Vicuña - Blog Posts

The poster of the Camelidae family. What I like from this work is that I can see the improvement of my illustration. From the time that I began to now, I have put more attention to detail an accuracy keeping in mind that subspecies differences are often very small. I love what I am doing and I love to share it with all of you.

If you want to have this nice piece hanging in your wall, just follow the link below. They come in different sizes, prices and mediums. It will help me a lot. Also a like would be nice. Thank you all for your support. PD. On my instagram I will post the animals but as well part of the illustration process.

Posters: Here 
  Follow my Instagram: Species of the World

Vicuña The last species of the family and the smallest too. And like many small things it is also the most precious treasure. The wool of the vicuña is among the most expensive textiles worldwide. A meter square can reach an impressive $3000 US. being mostly exclusive for the most prestigious high couture brands in the world. 

In a move that I found very smart from the governments where the animal can be found, is that the exportation of these animals is strictly prohibited making these countries the only ones who can manage the vicuña’s wool business. Good for them!

Once widespread in millions, it was vastly hunted when the conquerors discovered America (A repeated story), until 1950 where its numbers plumped to mere 10.000. Today is heavily protected and its situation is stable. However,  Scientist state that its stable population depends of the different laws of protection. If those laws would be lifted, the animal will be at the brick of extinction in just five years.

The next family is a very grumpy cute looking giant. 

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I’ve been improving the illustrations of the animals making it more realistic in order for the information to be clearer. Can you tell the difference of these ones compare to the previous ones?

Thanks again for your support, likes, reblog and follows, means a lot to me. Don’t forget that if you want to buy some of the posters of the previous families of animals you can find them here: Poster of Species   On my Instagram account, I’m planning to post part of the illustration process. Don’t miss it:  Species of the World See you next time.

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The Guanaco is a smaller member of the camelidae family also inhabits the andes in South America. 

The information found about this animal is a little bit confusing. While some pages put the animal in an endangered status, some others put it in a Least Concern status. However looking at the numbers of some of the subspecies, I came to the conclusion that it might be a endangered species.

Another issue was that some pages state that it is composed by four subspecies, some other just recognized two ( Guanaco and Guanaco Norteño) saying that the differences are not yet proved and the distribution is unclear.

This just proves how much is still to be done in the animal kingdom and how easy can become a topic of controversy among biologist. Time will give the reason to either of the two theories while some other questions surely arise. Fascinating!

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Thanks again for the interest on my Tumblr. If you like the content please follow me. Every ten days a new animal explained and illustrated. Likes and reblog are also highly appreciated. To me is so interesting to study animals and share what I learn. I also think is important people get to know about them too, because we cannot protect what we don’t know exist.

Posters in my store: Here 
or Here Instagram : Species of the World

Alpaca The beginnings of the Alpaca is more related to the Vicuña but it has been recently breed with Llamas. It’s domestication is been happening for thousand years and contrary to the Llama who was domesticated as a working animal and wool provider, the Alpaca is been domesticated exclusively for its wool, which can be used extensively.

As common as it is now, the Alpaca was at the brick of the extinction in the 1500′s when the Spanish discovered America. They decimated the species at the point that it was believed extinct. However, the animal move to higher altitudes, where later, in the XIX century was rediscovered. As a domestic animal, today can be seen everywhere in the world. It’s domestication and maintenance is not difficult.

The differences between the two breeds are remarkably visible.

Posters in my store: Here 
 or Here Instagram: Species of the World