South American Camelids: their values and contributions to people

Abstract

South American Camelids (SACs) make several material and non-material contributions to people and are a key component of the Andean biocultural heritage. From the perspective of the IPBES' Conceptual Framework, SACs constitute the "nature" component in the complex system of interactions between human societies and the Andean mountain environment. There are four SAC living species today, two of which are wild, or Salqa, in the indigenous cosmovision: guanaco (Lama guanicoe) and vicuña (Vicugna vicugna). Llama (Lama glama) and alpaca (Vicugna pacos) were domesticated 5000 years ago, and are therefore Uywa, in the indigenous cosmovision. Both wild and domestic camelids were, and in several cases still are, the most highly appreciated resource for Andean livelihoods. Historically, camelids and their contributions have been used by Andean people since the peopling of the Americas over 11,000 years ago. In this paper, we present three case studies (chakus for vicuña management, llama caravans, and llama nanobodies) to bring attention to the essential role of vicuñas and llamas for Andean communities today, their intercultural linkages with the Western world, and telecoupling interactions.

Dynamic of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis infection in a domestic–wildlife interface: Domestic sheep and guanaco as reservoir community

“…Guanaco was once the most abundant large herbivore of South America; however, its populations have been reduced, with several local populations becoming extinct (Vilá & Arzamendia, 2020).…”

“…Guanaco was once the most abundant large herbivore of South America; however, its populations have been reduced, with several local populations becoming extinct (Vilá & Arzamendia, 2020). Whether direct conflict and competition with livestock have been important in guanaco population declines remain unclear, but here we added new evidence of pathogens spillover from livestock to guanaco that might have contributed to population reduction, as it has occurred in other large wild herbivores (Heard et al., 2013; Pedersen et al., 2007).…”

Spatiotemporal Changes in Land Use and Ecosystem Service Values Under the Influence of Glacier Retreat in a High-Andean Environment

“…In general, the economic value of these provisioning services could be underestimated by the global sources researched by Costanza et al (2014) because the principal cattle in the study area are llamas, alpacas, and vicuñas (National Institute of Statistics and Informatics, 2012). These two last species are considered of great interest for their finest fibers worldwide and are used for luxury costumes (Vilá and Arzamendia, 2020;Zarrin et al, 2020). In the same way, the production of meat from llamas and alpacas has interesting value for their use as a principal protein source for Andean rural communities (Pérez et al, 2000); and their healthy characteristics (low in fat and cholesterol) make them attractive for local and international markets, signifying an important income for small-and medium-scale local producers (Mamani-Linares and Gallo, 2014).…”

PROBABILIDAD DE RIESGO ASOCIADO A LA PRESENCIA DE MACROQUISTES DE Sarcocystis spp. EN CANALES DE CAMÉLIDOS SUDAMERICANOS DOMÉSTICOS EN ECUADOR

“…De las especies de Sarcocystis que se pueden encontrar en los CSDs, se sabe que S. aucheniae ocasiona quistes macroscópicos y S. lamacanis produce quistes microscópicos que incluso se desarrollan más rápidamente y con mayor capacidad infectiva [15]. La crianza de CSDs (alpacas y llamas) en las regiones andinas de Perú, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina y Ecuador constituye una actividad familiar de importancia social, cultural y económica [16,17]. No obstante, la explotación de CSDs no solo está limitada a Sudamérica, sino que se ha extendido a otras latitudes con una visión más empresarial [18], donde la producción de carne de alpaca y llama ha tomado mucha relevancia por su calidad nutricional, ya que posee menos grasa y colesterol en comparación con otras fuentes de proteína animal como la carne de vacuno, ovino y caprino, generando un aumento en el consumo principalmente en los países desarrollados [19,20,21,22].…”