Spatial ecology of the Vicuna (Lama vicugna) in a high Andean protected area

The study of animal space use is fundamental to effective conservation and management of wildlife populations and habitats in a rapidly changing world, yet many species remain poorly described. Such is the case for the spatial ecology of the Vicuna-a medium-sized wild camelid that plays a critical role, both as a consumer and as prey, in the high Andean food web. We studied patterns of space use of 24 adult female vicunas from April 2014 to February 2017 at the southern edge of its range. Vicunas showed strong fidelity to their home range locations across the study period and shared large portions of their home ranges with vicunas from other family groups. Vicuna home ranges in our study were considerably larger than previous estimates across the range of the species. Variation in environmental and terrain factors and the associated risk of predation affected vicuna diel migration distance but not home range size or overlap. Our study offers new ecological insights into vicuna space use that can inform conservation and management efforts of vicunas and other social ungulates.