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Children's Values And Attitudes About The Wild Vicuña (Vicugna Vicugna) In Andean Argentina, Ana Celeste Wawrzyk, Bibiana Vilá

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

Vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) are South American camelids whose valuable fleece led to their overexploitation and near extinction in the 1960s. Since then, conservation measures enabled the wild population to rebound, and vicuñas are now viewed as strategic resources for the development of Andean communities. Perceptions of wild vicuñas are changing owed to a transition from strict conservation to managed harvest of fleece from live-shorn animals. Understanding the values and attitudes of human populations toward wildlife is important in the frameworks for developing conservation and sustainable management plans. Attitudes of children are an overlooked area of focus in this field. We …