Friday Field Foto #11: Guanaco
I am headed down south again very soon (next Tues) for my last field season in Patagonia…as a student anyway. I’ve had one other post about wildlife we encounter down there.
The above animal is a guanaco, which is sort of like a cross between a llama and a camel. These things are all over the place. We were able to get close to this particular one because we were in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, where they are tamer. When we see them in other areas outside of the park, they keep their distance. Typically one of them will stand between us and the rest of the herd…keeping the herd informed on what we are doing. Guanacos make a noise that sounds like a horse whinney combined with a laughing hyena.
Whenever we see them, we wish we could ride them up the mountain…they can get up the hills a lot faster than us.
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Clastic Detritus 
Cuoldn’t you make your field assistant, who is a linebacker, just go wrangle one?
who WAS a linebacker…not so much anymore…he recently said coffee has replaced working out
I think you need to be like that old guy from Rocky that whips him into shape. Make him run up snow covered mountains carrying firewood, eat raw eggs, box sides of beef. Then make him wrangle guanacos.