Vicuña are only found in the Andes Mountains of South America, at altitudes higher than 10,000 ft. They can be found in Ecuador, Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, in addition to Peru. The environment where I live is referred to as the puno, which is a kind of grassland in the upper altitudes of the Andes. It is relatively cold all year, with a wet season during October-March, and a dry season from April-September. In the wet season it is a little warmer during the day, but the sun is usually obscured by clouds, with precipitation mainly falling as rain and hail. I have seen more hail in my 3 months in Junin than in probably my entire life in Virginia.
Their fur helps them blend in with the grassland to hide from predators and people. I have often only seen them after they start running away from me when I get too close. They are also fast and agile runners, making use of the large open plains and hills of the Peruvian puna to escape predators. It eats the many different kinds of shrubs and grasses native to the puna, which I can assure you are abundant. Their fur is also extremely warm and fine, helping them stay warm at night when temperatures are below freezing.
The main natural predators of the vicuña are mainly pumas, with Andean foxes (culpeos) and domestic dogs also sometimes hunting them. Humans are also a large threat to the vicuña. There were no laws in place for vicuña hunting prior to the 1960s, so its population was reduced to less than 10,000 in the wild.
