Rediscovering the Guanaco
in the Paraguay Chaco

by Laura Villalba and Cristian Bonacic

For more than 40 years, the guanaco of the Chaco ecosystem of Paraguay has taken on an almost mythic status. Does it really exist or is it the stuff of legend? Wildlife conservationists in Paraguay are now celebrating new evidence documented with camera traps that proves that this subspecies of guanaco still persists in the harsh desert of the Gran Chaco.

The guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is one of the four camelids of South America. (A camelid is a member of the family Camelidae that includes camels, llamas and their relatives, all of which feature feet with two toes and leathery soles). The guanaco is a typical species of the cold steppes of Patagonia and the high, cold plains of the Andes but, somehow, surprisingly, it has adapted to the Chaco, one of the hottest, almost arid, ecosystems in South America.

Since 2004, Dr. Cristian Bonacic, director of Wildlife Trust Alliance member Fauna Australis of Santiago, Chile, has collaborated on this project with La Fundación DeSdel Chaco. A recent visit to the Medanos del Chaco National Park during November 2005, served to strengthen an alliance between Fauna Australis and the foundation, aimed toward developing a conservation project with local communities and the Chilean government.

Dr. Cristian Bonacic articulates the importance of the discovery: "This is a tremendous achievement. Local conservationists, led by Laura Villalba, have demonstrated that guanacos, an endangered species, still survive in the Paraguay Chaco. With this evidence, La Fundación DeSdel Chaco is collaborating with the Government to protect the single known population of the country. It is truly a rediscovery of a 120 kilos animal!

"Actually, I saw jaguar tracks in the guanaco study area and I suspect that a large prey like the guanaco still may play a role in the jaguar diet. Protecting the guanaco is not only important in itself; it is part of the needed conservation processes agenda for large protected areas." (Medanos del Chaco is a 0.5 million ha Chaco territory).

Bonacic adds, "The guanaco is a flagship species for these vast and degraded ecosystems of South America, an ecological equivalent to the kangaroo in Australia or the bison in the U.S. Guanacos are undoubtedly a keystone in the diet of the jaguar, another typical Chaco species. Protecting the guanaco is the first crucial step towards protecting the large mammals of the Paraguay's Chaco ecosystem."

Dr. Andrew Taber, executive vice president for programs at Wildlife Trust and a longtime leader in Chaco conservation, says, "Documenting this species' survival in the Paraguay Chaco is a critically important discovery, which, we hope, will galvanize officials to conserve this forgotten ecosystem."

Bonacic says that local Government officers from SEAM are extremely happy about this finding. "Gissela Escobar, a wildlife officer from the Paraguay Ministry of the Environment, endured an arduous journey with us that spanned sandy roads and 50 degrees Celsius temperatures for a roundtrip that completed 1,600 km in 48 hours!"

Future research and collaboration between the government, La Fundación DeSdel Chaco, Fauna Australis and Wildlife Trust aim to understand how guanacos are surviving, whether local communities may play a role in conserving this key species, and how jaguars and guanacos are interacting.