A prized beast is threatened
The Incas were so enamored of the beast that only the royal family was permitted to eat it or wear garments made from its wool. Under such protection, an estimated population of 2 million vicunña ran wild. But after the Incas' downfall the fragile creatures fell on hard times 'too Prized for their soft, fleecy wool (now selling for $90 a lb.),* the vicuñas became the buffalo of the Andes: there were fewer than 10,000 in Peru by the late 1960s, and they were practically wiped out elsewhere.
But...
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