As we showed you in the previous post, Torres Del Paine has some amazing scenery. And we were lucky that we got to see not only the scenery but some of the amazing wildlife that lives there.

At one of our first stops, we saw a pair of greyish-brown Andean Foxes that have made their home by the side of the road. Their usual diet consists of largely of rodents, rabbits, birds and lizards. According to the park rangers though, some careless tourist thought these foxes looked cute and decided to feed them. After that the foxes waited by the side of the road for more handouts, and since they got them, they stay there waiting for more. If people give them food, they no longer hunt or teach their children to hunt and thus can’t survive on their own.

Watching and waiting for food

While his partner naps

They seemed playful enough, and would look over at us while throwing all sorts of poses

 

 

Another animal that can be found all over Patagonia is the Guanaco. Guanacos look a lot like llamas and are from the camel family. On the way to Torres Del Paine, we saw several groups along (and on) the road, and once in the park there were plenty of them.

Farmers put these fences up (outside of the national park) but the guanacos just jump over them

The guanacos don’t seem to mind people much

This one was from the inside of a moving car. The guanacos were climbing a very steep wall of stone and gravel as if it was nothing but a flat plane.

And ever present in the skies above us was the Andean Condor. It’s really a glorified vulture, but it is the largest bird in the Western Hemisphere and it is truly majestic in flight.

 

 

We were so excited when we saw Chilean flamingos moving so gracefully in the lake and looking for shrimps. You can see their black big beak.

 

More flamingos! So gorgeous!

 

 

Another large bird is the nandu. It’s a bit like an ostrich or emu, and just like them, it can’t fly. These birds seem a lot more shy of humans than the guanacos, but you still see them along the roads in the fields.

 

 

 

 

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This entry was posted on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 at 12:10 am and is filed under Chile, Patagonia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.