The chilihueque/chiliweke or hueque/weke (''Lama araucana'') is an extinct

hypothetical species Several species have been assumed to exist, but due to a lack of physical evidence they can only be regarded as potential species. Hypothetical species are usually believed to be extinct. They have caused confusion, as they may have been a separat ...

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

camelid Camelids are members of the biological family (biology), family Camelidae, the only currently living family in the suborder Tylopoda. The seven extant taxon, extant members of this group are: dromedary, dromedary camels, Bactrian camels, wild Bac ...

. It lived in central and

southern Chile Southern Chile is an informal geographic term for any place south of the capital city, Santiago, or south of Biobío River, the mouth of which is Concepción, about {{convert, 200, mi, km, sigfig=1, order=flip south of Santiago. Generally citie ...

until the colonial period.

Taxonomy

The chilihueque was first scientifically described by

Juan Ignacio Molina Fr. Juan Ignacio Molina (; (June 24, 1740 – September 12, 1829) was a Chilean-Spanish Jesuit priest, natural history, naturalist, historian, translator, geographer, botanist, ornithologist, and linguist. He is usually referred to as Abate Moli ...

in 1782, who named it ''

Camelus A camel (from and () from Semitic languages, Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an Artiodactyl, even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated a ...

araucanus''. In 1829,

Johann Baptist Fischer Johann Baptist Fischer, born 1803 in Munich (Germany), died 30 May 1832 in Leiden (the Netherlands) was a German naturalist, zoologist and botanist, doctor and surgeon. Biography Fischer was the son of a Munich schoolmaster, also named Joh ...

reassigned the species to ''

Lama Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...

''. Pierre Boitard proposed the alternate name ''Lama chilihueque'' in 1841. There are two main hypotheses for its origin: the first suggests that it was a locally-domesticated

guanaco The guanaco ( ; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids; the other species is the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations. Etymology The gua ...

and the second that it was a

llama The llama (; or ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with ...

alpaca The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. Traditionally, alpacas were kept in herds that grazed on the level heights of the Andes of Southern Peru, Western Bolivia, Ecuador, and Northern Chile. More recentl ...

introduced from the north. The former hypothesis is supported by a

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

analysis of bones from Mocha Island.

Description

According to Molina,

Joris van Spilbergen Joris van Spilbergen (1 November 1568 in Antwerp – 13 January 1620 in Bergen op Zoom) was a Dutch naval officer. His first major expedition was in 1596, when he sailed to Africa. He then left for Asia on 5 May 1601, from Veere, a seapor ...

observed the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

of Mocha Island using chilihueques as

plough A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden ...

animals. They were also ritually slaughtered by the Mapuche, as attested by various 16th century Spanish records. White individuals were reserved for dignitaries, while those of other colors were shared with commoners (including for the purpose of bride prices). Chilihueque populations declined through the 16th and 17th centuries, becoming outnumbered by

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

and other

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

brought by Europeans. The exact date of their extinction is uncertain, but it was likely in the late 18th century. At this time, only the Mapuche in Huequén (near

Angol Angol is a commune and capital city of the Malleco Province in the Araucanía Region of southern Chile. It is located at the foot of the Cordillera de Nahuelbuta and next to the Vergara River, that permitted communications by small boats to the ...

) and Mariquina still raised the species according to Tomás Guevara.

References

{{taxonbar, from1=Q16249332 Camelids Taxa named by Juan Ignacio Molina Mammals described in 1782 Purported mammals Mammals of Chile Mammals of the Andes Extinct mammals of South America Mammal extinctions since 1500 Extinct mammal breeds Animal breeds originating in Chile Livestock Animal hair products Mapuche