Picture of the Day

A vicuña in Peru -- on the road from Arequipa to Colca Canyon (January 2008). From Wikipedia:

The vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) is one of two wild South American camelids, along with the guanaco, which live in the high alpineous areas of the Andes. It is a relative of the llama and the alpaca. Vicuñas produce small amounts of extremely fine wool, which is very expensive because the animal can only be shorn every 3 years. When knitted together, the product of the vicuña's fur is very soft and warm. It is understood that the Inca raised vicuñas for their wool, and that it was against the law for any but royalty to wear vicuña garments.

Both under the rule of the Inca and today, vicuñas have been protected by law. Before being declared endangered in 1974, only about 6,000 animals were left. Today, the vicuña have recovered to about 125,000 but organizations such as the IUCN and the U.S. Department of the Interior still consider it endangered.