Guanaco 375 



THE GUANACO 



[Lama huanaciis) 



(Plate VIII. Fig. i) 



South America is the home of two pecuhar mammals which are the 

 western representatives of the camels of the Old World, although, owing 

 to the absence ot the characteristic dorsal hump or humps, there is nothing 

 particularly camel-like in their general appearance. In common language 

 they are usually spoken of as llamas, although the name llama is properly 

 restricted to one ot the two domesticated breeds of the larger species, 

 whose proper title is guanaco — pronounced huanaco. The second and 

 smaller wild species is the vicugna. Both the guanaco and the vicugna 

 are long-limbed and long-necked animals, with well-formed, game-looking 

 heads, surmounted with long and pointed ears, and carrying themselves in 

 a stately manner. They are clothed with a long coat of thick woolly hair, 

 which is of a pale reddish fawn-colour on the upper-parts, shading off 

 into nearly white on the under surface of the body and the inner side of 

 the limbs ; the hair being longest on the under-parts. In both animals 

 the eyes are unusually large and beautiful ; and the tail is short and bushy. 

 The feet are of the same cushion-like type as in the camels, the sole of 

 each of the two toes having a soft elastic pad. On the face and legs the 

 hair is comparatively short. As regards the structure of the skeleton and 

 the anatomy of their soft internal parts, as well as in their dentition, the 

 guanaco and vicugna conform essentially to the camel type ; but for such 

 details the reader may be referred to works written on more scientific 

 lines than is the present volume. Both species indulge in the unpleasant 

 habit of spitting at intruders, this being apparently their only means of 

 aggressive defence ; their chief security from enemies being their speed 

 of foot. 



