Situated high in the Andean mountain ranges of Peru is the Hairy Andean Mountain Worm or as its know by its Latin name Chewpaca. Little is known about this majestic above ground land worm due to their near extinction by the Inca's, for their sweet meat, fur and medicinal purposes, and also their very timid nature in the wild. From the little study completed on these creatures researchers have been able to deduce the following:
- They live in the Andean mountains, Peru, typically above 4300m
- Life span of 80 years
- Average length of 4m, but have been know to grow as long as 6m
- Whilst they are a land crawler, their fur is some of the softest on the planet. For this reason the Inca's use to hunt them and use their skin/fur for sleeping bags
- Estimated only 56 are left in the wild
- Diet consists of mostly of snails and moss. But they are particularly fond of spiderwebs although not spiders
- They frighten very easily and when spooked can reach speeds of up to 17km/h
- Their mating habits are quite strange, which is also believed to be a reason for the small numbers, as they live solitary lives only to come together every 7 years to mate. After mating season it's not quite sure how they reproduce as this has never been observed
- Inca's were also know to hunt them for medicinal purposes, as their skin secretes an oil which was used to cure baldness
Fortunately for us we were able to snap the pictures below as one of them was crawling through a town in search of snails.
No comments:
Post a Comment