Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Lagid­ium pe­ru­anum, one of sev­eral rec­og­nized species of "Moun­tain Vis­cachas," lives in the Andes Moun­tains of Peru at el­e­va­tions rang­ing from ap­prox­i­mately 3,000-5,000 me­ters. This cor­re­sponds to the area con­tained be­tween the tim­ber and snow lines. L. pe­ru­anum, while often lo­cally abun­dant, ex­hibits a scat­tered dis­tri­b­u­tion across its range. It is not un­com­mon to have dense pop­u­la­tions sep­a­rated from other such pop­u­la­tions by over 10 kilo­me­ters. There is seem­ingly lit­tle or no dif­fer­ence in habi­tat struc­ture be­tween oc­cu­pied areas and the un­oc­cu­pied areas be­tween pop­u­la­tions.

• Biogeographic Regions
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

L. pe­ru­anum live in dry, rocky, habi­tats be­tween the tim­ber line and snow line of the Andes moun­tains. Veg­e­ta­tion is rel­a­tively sparse and char­ac­ter­ized mainly by coarse grasses. L. pe­ru­anum are often found near water that of­fers more suc­cu­lent veg­e­ta­tion than drier areas within their habi­tat. They oc­cupy bur­rows among rocks and crevices.

• Terrestrial Biomes
• mountains

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

L. pe­ru­anum, ex­clud­ing their bushy tails which reach lengths of about 200-400mm, are ap­prox­i­mately 300-450mm in length. They posess dense, soft fur on their bod­ies and long, coarse fur on the dor­sal sur­face of their tails. Their pelage col­oration varies from dark grey at low el­e­va­tions to brown at higher el­e­va­tions. The ven­tral por­tion of their fur is lighter, and can be white, yel­low­ish, or light gray. The dor­sally curled ends of their tails vary from rusty to black in color. L. pe­ru­anum have long, hair-cov­ered ears. Fe­males have only a sin­gle pair of mam­mae.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Range mass

  0.900 to 1.600 kg

  1.98 to 3.52 lb

Re­pro­duc­tion

In­di­vid­u­als reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity after one year. The mat­ing pe­riod ranges from Oc­to­ber to De­cem­ber, in which all adult fe­males be­come preg­nant. Ges­ta­tion lasts ap­prox­i­mately 140 days and one off­spring is pro­duced. While fe­males may un­dergo a post-par­tum es­trus, it is un­likely that a sec­ond preg­nancy in a given year will re­sult given the length of the ges­ta­tion pe­riod and the tim­ing of the mat­ing sea­son. The off­spring are pre­co­cious, and feed on a mix­ture of their mother's milk and veg­e­ta­tion. While fe­males posess two ovaries and two uter­ine horns, only the right ovary and uter­ine horn are func­tional. If the right ovary is sur­gi­cally re­moved, the left then be­comes func­tional.

• Key Reproductive Features
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual

• Range number of offspring

  1.000 (low)

• Average number of offspring

  1.000

• Average number of offspring

  1

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  104 to 140 days

• Range weaning age

  30.000 (low) days

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  365 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  365 days

  AnAge

• Parental Investment
• precocial

Lifes­pan/Longevity

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  19.5 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

L. pe­ru­anum live in large colonies of up to 80 in­di­vid­u­als. These colonies are seg­re­gated into small fam­ily units of 2 to 5 in­di­vid­u­als which oc­cupy a sin­gle bur­row. These an­i­mals are poor dig­gers, so their bur­rows con­sist of crevices among cliffs and rocks. They are not ter­ri­to­r­ial and rarely ag­gres­sive. When the breed­ing sea­son be­gins males are dri­ven out of their fam­ily bur­row by the fe­male, at which point they dis­perse through­out the colony and ex­hibit some de­gree of promis­cu­ity. Much of the day is spent bask­ing and preen­ing on ex­posed rocks. Feed­ing be­gins in the af­ter­noon and lasts until after sun­set, at which time in­di­vid­u­als re­turn to their bur­rows. L. pe­ru­anum are quick and agile, able to get from rock to rock with ei­ther short hops or leaps of over 2 me­ters, if alarmed. When alarmed they pro­duce a high-pitched call to warn the colony of a po­ten­tial threat. L. pe­ru­anum rarely stray more than 70 me­ters from shel­ter.

• Key Behaviors
• motile
• social

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

• Perception Channels
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

L. pe­ru­anum eat most of the sparse veg­etable ma­te­r­ial they find in their habi­tats. This in­cludes tough grasses, lichens, and moss. They feed pri­mar­ily from late af­ter­noon until after the sun sets.

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

L. pe­ru­anum are used as a source of meat and fur, how­ever their pelts are not in par­tic­u­larly high de­mand.

• Positive Impacts
• food

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

None.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

While their num­bers have de­clined in some areas, L. pe­ru­anum, per­haps be­cause they are the small­est of the Moun­tain Vis­cachas, are not par­tic­u­larly sought after for their fur or as a source of meat.

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Matthew Wund (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (ed­i­tor), Mu­seum of Zo­ol­ogy, Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

Matthews, H. 1971. The Life of Mam­mals. New York: Uni­verse Books.

Nowak, R. 1991. Walker's Mam­mals of the World. Bal­ti­more: Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

Pear­son, O. 1948. Life his­tory of moun­tain vis­cachas in Peru. Jour­nal of Mam­mol­ogy, 29: 345-374.