The guanaco is a wild relative of the llama and native to mountainous south-western regions of South America. It has a dense, double layered woolly coat and can tolerate heat and cold as long as the climate is dry. The coarse top coat covers a soft undercoat that is finer than the best cashmere and sometimes used in luxury fabrics. The guanaco live in small herds consisting of females with calves and a single dominant male. Calves are able to stand and move with the herd from birth. Male calves are chased away from the herd when they reach one year old and will join other males to form bachelor herds. The guanaco can grow to 122cm tall and weigh around 90kg. Their lifespan is between 20 and 25 years. The guanaco is often found at high altitudes of up to 13,000 feet. To cope with the extremely low levels of oxygen at these altitudes the guanaco has four times the number of red blood cells found in humans to absorb oxygen.

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