The Planckendael zoo announced the birth of a baby vicuña, a wild South American camelid, this weekend.
The vicuña, named Unagi, is the second fawn of parents Dany and Humphrey in Plackendael. In 2013, when Dany gave birth to before, it had been 27 years since a vicuña was born in the zoo, reports Het Laatste Nieuws.
Vicuñas are the smallest of all camelids and relatives of the llama. They are believed to be the wild ancestor of domesticated alpacas. In the wild, they live at high altitude in the Andes in South America and have a very soft coat and fine wool. An adult vicuña has a height of less than one metre at the withers and weighs between 40 and 60 kilograms. The vicuña was the first species to be officially protected in South America.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
