Range

South America is the native home of the guanaco. Here they live throughout Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Peru. As much as 90% of the population is found in Argentina.

A population has been introduced to the Falkland Islands.

Habitat

They make their home in grasslands, scrub, savanna and temperate forests with a preference for cold habitats including areas where the temperature may go below zero degrees Celsius for parts of the year.

Reproduction

Breeding takes place during summer from December to January. The gestation period is 11.5 months leading to the young being born from November to December. The timing of the births will vary by region.

In a population typically ¾ of the females will have young each year.

A single infant, known as a chulengo is born. Twins can occur but are extremely rare and on almost all recorded occasions one of the twins has died.

Young are able to stand within 1 hour of their birth. They will follow their mother and by a few weeks old are starting to graze. By 8 months old they feed exclusively on the adult diet.

The chulengo is independent between 11 and 15 months old. Males will become aggressive towards juveniles in their group and chase them out of the group before the next breeding season.

The females may form a group with other yearling females or join an established groups. Males typically form small groups while they hone their fighting skills to be able to become the leader of their own group of females.

Young face many predators with only 30% of them surviving to adulthood.

Females are sexually mature at 2 years old with males maturing between 2 years old and 4 years old.

Behavior

They are fast runners and may reach speeds of up to 64km/h (40mph). Guanacos can also swim.

Most guanacos will be found in a herd. A typical herd includes one male, a number of adult females and their current juveniles. Each herd may include up to 50 members.

Communication with other guanacos may be done by the position of the ears or tail and vocalizations such as trills, snorts and shrieks. They can also communicate through their feces.

Some populations are migratory to reach food.

Predators and Threats

Their main natural predator is the mountain lion with culpeos also eating them.

Living in groups helps them to defend against predators. Females will have their calves at similar times which provides protection against predators.

When threatened the guanaco will spit at its opponent. This contains their stomach contents and can travel up to 1.8m (6ft).

The number of guanacos has dropped from 50 million at their peak to around 600,000 at present.

The main threat presented by humans is habitat clearance, over-hunting and over-grazing of their habitat by introduced species. Severe droughts in their habitat will also lead to starvation for some guanacos.

Quick facts

Their undercoat is used for making clothes. In some areas they are farmed for this purpose.