Vicugna Lama is a genus containing the South American camelids: the wild guanaco and vicuña and the domesticated llama, alpaca, and the extinct chilihueque.

Discovery of the extinct fauna of the American continent of the Paleogene and Neogene periods, starting with the 19th-century paleontologists Leidy, Cope, and Marsh, has revealed the early history of this family.

The ancestor of the modern llamas entered South America via the Isthmus of Panama about 3 million years ago, as part of the Great American Interchange.

The Old World camels were gradually driven southward into regions of Asia and Africa, perhaps by changes of climate, and having become isolated, they have undergone further special modifications.

A possible variety is the hueque or chilihueque that existed in central and south-central Chile in pre-Hispanic and early colonial times.

[4] According to Juan Ignacio Molina, the Dutch captain Joris van Spilbergen observed the use of chilihueques by native Mapuches of Mocha Island as plough animals in 1614.

The skull generally resembles that of Camelus, the relatively larger brain cavity and orbits and less developed cranial ridges being due to its smaller size.

The guanaco has an extensive geographical range, from the high lands of the Andean region of Ecuador and Peru to the open plains of Patagonia, and even the wooded islands of Tierra del Fuego.

It is about the size of a European red deer, and is an elegant animal with a long, slender, gracefully curved neck and slim legs.