They are herbivores that feed primarily on herbaceous plants and shrubs as well as sedges, lichens, and grasses found between the rocks on high peaks.

[citation needed] The huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus), also known as the South Andean deer, is found in Chile and Argentina.

They are endangered primarily due to human impacts such as deforestation, habitat fragmentation by roads, introduction of non-native mammals such as farm animals, and poaching.

Scattered potpulations are also found in high mountain regions of Bolivia, and in a less extent in northern Chile and Argentina, inhabiting treeless Puna grasslands.

This species inhabited lowland plains habitats, rather than mountains, and lived between 1.5 and 0.5 million years ago, during the mid to late Pleistocene.