Bolivian Altiplano, A Pair of Vicuñas

The vicuña (or vicugna) is one of two wild South American camelids which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes (the other being the guanaco). Vicuñas produce small amounts of extremely fine wool, which is very expensive because the animal can only be shorn every three years, and has to be caught from the wild. When knitted together, the product of the vicuña's wool is very soft and warm. The Inca valued vicuñas highly for their wool, and it was against the law for anyone but royalty to wear vicuña garments.