The guanaco is the wild form of the llama, and unlike its domestic cousin, guanaco colouring varies very little.

A fine sight on any horizon, guanaco at the Angliss' farm. Probably not 'pure' they may well have llama genes from a few generations ago. Photo supplied Brian Angliss.

It ranges from a light brown to dark cinnamon, with a certain amount of white shading on the undersides.

They are native to the mountainous areas of South America, and live in small herds of females with off-spring, and a dominant male.

Male cria (chulengos) are normally ousted from the herd after a year, and they tend to form much larger bachelor herds outside the fighting of the breeding season. The soft wool is much prized, finer than the best cashmere, and second only in value to the vicuna.

Other than man, the guanaco has only one natural predator – the mountain lion. Their vulnerable necks have evolved a much thicker skin, just like the llama and alpaca, as part of their protection against these predators.

Julie Insley – President of the New Zealand Llama Association believes that domestication of the llama and alpaca was around 5-6000 years ago.

It is very probable that the wild versions have been at risk of being hunted to extinction more than once.

“People visiting South America frequently see llama running around free, and assume they are wild, but in fact someone always owns them.”

Llama and guanaco might have been imported into New Zealand around 1880, but they died out and didn’t survive into the next century.

A small herd of guanaco was brought to Auckland zoo, and the first to appear in the NZ llama registry was born there in 1957.

Thereafter there were a number of crossbreeds, and the registry currently lists nearly 200 animals.

The NZ Rare Breeds website lists the status of guanaco as ‘rare’ both here and overseas, and their importation as ‘recent’.

A problem Julie Insley had to deal with was that guanaco are listed as an endangered species under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).

Technically they might not have existed in this country, but after digging around with the likes of MAF, DoC and ERMA, Julie was able to get them recognised, and they are not listed as an “unwanted organism”.

Julie describes guanaco as “very beautiful and highly intelligent”. As far as she is aware there are only two breeders in the country one of whom is seeking the fibre, and the other more interested in their rarity.

“As far as the fibre is concerned it is the finest quality imaginable, but you’d get less than half a kilo off one animal only every second year. For people with little experience llamas or alpacas are a much better bet.”

One of Julie’s guanaco, Sosemo, now resides with Christine Angliss, and Julie was quite glad to see the back of him.

“They make llamas look dumb with their intelligence. They are incredibly nosy and curious, and will notice anything unusual. They don’t want to be touched, yet they will follow you around to see what you are doing.

“They are not easy to confine – you’d need deer fences for sure, but they birth easily and are very good mothers.

“Sosemo could jump in and out of anywhere at will and the only solution was to take him on walks with all the llama. He’d simply jump out and follow you anyway!”

Llama and guanaco will certainly continue to cross-breed if the facilities are available.

Thanks to Julie Insley, from a legal perspective guanacos are treated the same as llamas in New Zealand.

Other than the possibly dubious joy of having a very beautiful, obviously wilful animal around, it is probably better, not to mention advisable, to stick with the domesticated versions of the camelid tribe.