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Wildlife and plants

Mammals

Almost synonymous with images of Torres del Paine national park is the Guanaco (Lama guanicoe), a large cameloid closely related to the Llama. Around the approaches to the national park they have become rather relaxed about busloads of visitors jumping out to take photographs of them. However, in more remote areas such as Sierra Baguales, where humans remain much more of a novelty, they tend to be rather more inquisitive. The calves are born during the spring, and are known locally as chulengo. The word ‘guanaco’ is pronounced with the accent on second syllable.

The other two South American cameloids, the Llama (Lama glama) and the Vicuña (Vicugna vicugna), are present in other parts of Chile; the Guanaco and the Llama are the slightly larger of the three. There is a fourth cameloid in Chile, the Alpaca (Lama pacos), but this is actually a domesticated and selectively bred form of the Vicuña.

Far more elusive is the now endangered Huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus). This small, shy, deer-like animal was once quite common, but was hunted to near extinction by early settlers and is now extremely rare. Male Huemul are slightly larger than the female and stand up to about 90cm at the shoulder. CONAF (Corporación Nacional Forestal), which oversees Chile’s national parks, asks that any Huemul sightings are reported to the national park office. The Huemul was incorporated into the Chilean coat of arms in 1834 and still appears there, alongside the Condor. The Southern Pudu (Pudu puda), the world’s smallest deer, is present in other parts of Chile but not in Torres del Paine.