Another species of wildlife we got to enjoy (close up and in abundance) while we were in Patagonia was the guanaco. When you see a wild camelid, you know you aren’t in North America anymore! So after penguins and Andean condors, this was more proof we really were near “the end of the world” in southern Chilean Patagonia.
Guanacos are one of the two species of wild members of the camel family (called camelids) that are native to South America. They are the ancestors of another species, the domesticated llama, and they are found in Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. In the Patagonian part of Chile and Argentina, they can be found down to sea level. The other wild camelid species is the smaller vicuna, which lives at higher elevations (12,000-15,750 feet above sea level) in the Andes Mountains, mainly in northern Chile, Argentina, Peru and Bolivia. Vicunas are the ancestors of alpacas, according to DNA analysis, but since all four species can interbreed with fertile offspring, most modern alpaca breeds also have some guanaco/llama genes as well. Young guanacos are called chulengos. They are really cute. Young llamas, alpacas and vicunas are called crias.
To my eye, guanacos are roughly the size of white-tailed deer, but their long necks make them look more slender and graceful. But their necks also make them look funny when they put their head down to run fast as you can see in the video I have a video of them on YouTube at https://youtu.be/dlpjhvZM6yA or http://bit.ly/ChulengosandGuanacos .
We saw guanacos all around the Patagonian part of Chile we were in, but they were really unconcerned about people when we saw them in Chile’s spectacular Torres del Paine National Park (the last part of the name is pronounced del PIE-nay), with it’s stunning glacially carved mountain spires. Even though they are world famous, this area isn’t as heavily visited as out big national parks, like Yellowstone or Yosemite, although we were there a little bit before the peak of the tourist season in their summertime of January-February.
Even though they ignored us and walked right around us, a few of the herd of guanacos were alert and on the lookout for their main predator, the puma, which is the same as our mountain lion out west and in Florida. We were looking for pumas, since that was our goal for the morning, and our guide, Raffaele Di Biase, of the Birds Chile guide company saw one briefly, but it disappeared over the ridge, and we didn’t get to see it. However, the hour we spent among the guanaco herd was wonderful. I loved how the chulengos wag their tails as they are nursing (Which you can see in my video).
Meanwhile, there was spectacular mountain scenery, lot of beautiful small birds, like Patagonian Sierra-finches and rufous-collared sparrows (not to mention flowers), that I had a hard time deciding what to look at and photograph. So I’ll have more to share from our trip to Chile soon.
Mike Slater is a member of the Mengel Natural History Society of Berks County and the Muhlenberg Botanic Society of Lancaster. He lives in Brecknock Township. Reach him at paplantings@gmail.com.
