Edinburgh Zoo welcomes three new Vicunas

Earlier this year the first vicuna, Merino moved to Edinburgh Zoo where he is settling in well and we have welcomed four new vicunas to the park: Lino our male and three females named Coco, Juanita and Ozzy.

Vicunas are native to the central Andes in South America and are relatives of the llama. In the time of the Inca Empire, vicunas were believed to be the property of the gods and only Incan rulers were allowed to wear clothing made of their wool.

The three females arrived in the middle of June and were joined a couple of weeks later by the male. We started them with access to only one part of the enclosure to allow them to settle in and for us to monitor them.

Now, all four have settled in their new home really well and have free roam of the whole seven-acre paddock. They have explored every corner of their enclosure and enjoy nibbling on the birch trees that grow within it.

Our three females are more confident than our male, Lino. He will often follow them around the enclosure and let them do the exploring.

At the first sight of anything scary, which can be as much as a large bird flying over, he will run up the nearest hill or mound and alarm call, which sounds a lot like a squeaky dog toy!

Our females however are very relaxed and can often be seen grazing the paddock or sunning themselves by the side of the road.