Vicuñas are small cameloid animals and family of the lama, the guanaco and the alpaca. They cannot be held in captivity and are very shy. When traveling in the Andes in Peru on the altiplano one can encounter a small group of these animals. The wool of the vicuña is the most costly wool in the world. This wool was used for astronauts, because of the high rate between weight and warmth. A poncho of vicuña wool will cost in Cusco somewhere around $ 5.000,–.
The wool it self is a government monopoly and the indigenous people is not allowed to have vicuñas and sell the wool for themselves.