The guanaco is a close relative of the llama and the alpaca, and a distant relative of the camel. Whilst the llama and the alpaca have been domesticated for the last 4,000 years, the guanaco has always been the 'wild' relation! In the wild it inhabits dry, open country, either in the mountains or the plains of South America and Peru.
The guanaco grows up to 5' (1.2m). The guanaco is a herbivore (eating only plants), and both grazes and browses to get its food. It is a ruminant, which means it partially chews its food before swallowing and then regurgitates it later to chew it more thoroughly! The guanaco lives in a family group with one dominant male, several adult females and their young of up to 15 months.
Populations of guanaco in the wild are thought to be declining and are now less than 600,000; they are under threat because their skin is commercially valuable.
