Vicuñas produce small amounts of extremely fine wool, which is very expensive because the animal can only be shorn every three years and has to be caught from the wild.

[7] Today, the vicuña is mainly wild, but the local people still perform special rituals with these creatures, including a fertility rite.

Fossils of these lowland camelids have been assigned to a species known as Lama gracilis, but genetic and morphological analysis between them and modern vicuña indicate the two may be the same.

The vicuña's thick but soft coat is a unique adaptation that traps layers of warm air close to its body to tolerate freezing temperatures.

In Peru, during 1964–1966, the Servicio Forestal y de Caza in cooperation with the US Peace Corps, Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and the National Agrarian University of La Molina established a nature conservatory for the vicuña called the Pampa Galeras – Barbara D'Achille in Lucanas Province, Ayacucho.

During that time, a game warden academy was held in Nazca, where eight men from Peru and six from Bolivia were trained to protect the vicuña from poaching.

[11] The Convention prohibited their international trade and domestic exploitation, and ordered the parties to create reserves and breeding centres.

[12] A follow-up treaty, the Convention for the Conservation and Management of the Vicuña, was signed between Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru on 20 December 1979 in Lima.

[12] In combination with CITES (effective in 1975), as well as USA and EU trade legislation, the Conventions were highly successful, as the vicuña population substantially grew as a result.

the community of Lucanas conducts a chaccu (herding, capturing, and shearing) on the reserve each year to harvest the wool, organized by the National Council for South American Camelids (CONACS).

[citation needed] Since this was a ready "cash crop" for community members, the countries relaxed regulations on vicuña wool in 1993, enabling its trade once again.

[citation needed] Consequently, the IUCN still supports active conservation programs to protect vicuñas, though they lowered their status to least concern in 2018.

[18] In 2022, the Argentine government's National Council for Scientific and Technical Investigation estimated that "Andean communities receive around 3% of the value generated by the vicuña fiber chain.

"[19][20] Its wool is famous for its warmth and is used for apparel, such as socks, sweaters, accessories, shawls, coats, suits, and home furnishings, such as blankets and throws.