Habitat use by vicuñas Vicugna vicugna in the Laguna Blanca Reserve (Catamarca, Argentina)

We studied the use of vegetation types by vicuñas in the Laguna Blanca Reserve (Argentina) at the end of the dry season. For a coarse scale analysis, 521 vicuñas were counted along 150 km of road crossing four different vegetation types. Vicuñas avoided the open rocky areas, which were almost without vegetation, and the areas dominated by isolated shrubs of Acantholippia hastulata. They preferred the sparse vegetation dominated by Fabiana densa,Baccharis bolivianensis , and Adesmia horridiuscula, and they used the areas dominated by grasses (mainlyStipa sp.), and chamaephytes in proportion to availability. For a fine-scale analysis, we observed from a fixed point the vicuñas using the area surrounding the ‘Laguna Blanca’ lagoon. Vicuñas preferred the swamp areas with dense, green vegetation that surround the lagoon. We concluded that, even when this type of vegetation (called ‘vegas’ in Latin America) occupied a small proportion of the total area, it is an important habitat for the vicuñas.