vicuña

[prettygoodword]

And since I mentioned them last post:


vicuña or vicuna or vicugna (vi-KOO-nuh, vai-KYOO-nyuh) - n., a wild South American ruminant (Vicugna vicugna) having soft, delicate fleece; the wool from this animal; a fabric woven from this wool, usually finished with a soft nap; a garment, especially an overcoat, made of this fabric.



Thanks, Wikimedia!

The smallest of the Andean camelids, and ancestor (with some guanaco crossbreeding) of the domesticated alpaca, which is hardier and yields more wool -- for vicuña can be shorn only every three years, and the hairs are even finer. In Inca times, only royalty could wear vicuña garments. Formerly endangered, but populations have recovered back to barely threatened levels. The name was adopted around 1600 from Spanish vicuña, from Quechua wik'uña, the native name for it.

---L.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

I thought guanaco were quite short?
Maybe I shouldn't overthink this.

[prettygoodword]

This is apparently even more gracile than guanacos.