40 native animals of Chile

The huemul is a type of deer weighing between 40 and 100 kg, the females being smaller than the males, and the latter presenting an antler. Their long ears and white anal shield are characteristic. Their fur is brown in color, with a slight variation depending on the time of year. It can be found in Ñuble, Chiloé, Aysén and Magallanes. As a curiosity, it is present in the shield of Chile.

This deer is one of the Animals in danger of extinction in Chile , to learn more you can consult this other article.

This curious mountain animal, which reaches a withers height of up to 120 cm, is one of the best known in the world due to its curious gesture of spitting when threatened . Its coat is very dense, to be able to withstand the low temperatures of its natural environment, brown in color with darker colored legs, face and ears. The llama lives in the regions of Tarapacá and Antofagasta, between 2,300 m and 4,000 m of altitude.

Another of the native animals of Chile is the puma, it is one of the big cats in the world, and can weigh up to 80 kg, the females being generally smaller. Its fur is brown, with lighter areas on the snout and ventral area. Its diet is very varied: it includes birds, rodents and large mammals such as the huemul. Its distribution is also very wide, inhabiting areas of mountain ranges between 0 m and 5,000 m above sea level. It abounds from Arica to Magallanes.

This large marine mammal, which generally lives in water due to its diet based on fish, also needs to go ashore to breed. Their limbs, transformed into fins to gain agility in the water, allow them clumsy movements on land. They have a thick layer of waterproof hair and another subcutaneous layer of fat, which allows them to keep warm in cold environments. Male sea ​​lions can be almost three meters long, and have longer and more robust hair around the head. It is found along the entire Chilean coast .

This curious rodent is another of the native animals of Chile , which has also been adopted as a pet and is characterized by having a tail with long brush-shaped hairs at its end. The degu has a large head with highly developed ears and eyes, and its coat is of a stout type. It is a diurnal rodent and they live in large groups that are organized in burrows underground. Their diet consists of roots, pods, seeds, barks, etc. It can be found between Huasco and Rapel.

The nutria is a large rodent that can weigh between 5 kg and 9 kg. It is of the aquatic type, for which it has membranes between the fingers (interdigital membranes) that facilitate swimming. Their fur is thick and long, brown in color. Like beavers , build shelters and platforms on river and lake beds. It lives from Elqui to Malleco, up to 1,100 m of altitude.

The colocolo is a type of feline very similar to domestic cats, but larger in general. The fur color of this wild cat is grayish and yellowish or orange, and it has spots on the back and stripes on the nape of the neck, up to the shoulders. It is an agile and very slender animal. It is found in the regions of Tarapacá, Coquimbo, Concepción, Aysén and Magallanes, among others.

The guanaco is another of the native animals of Chile and it is another type of camelid related to the llama and the alpaca . being somewhat larger in size (it can weigh up to 150 kg). It has a thick and light coat, with a striking reddish hue on the dorsal areas and white on the ventral areas. It is organized in family groups called “harems”, made up of a male and several fertile females, or in groups of males of various ages. Like llamas, they spit at threats , and their main predator is the cougar. It is distributed from Tarapacá to Antofagasta.

This is another camelid, with a woolly fur and light color, which allows it to live in cold high mountain places. It measures up to 150 cm to the head and can weigh up to 65 kg. It is a domestic animal, being valued above all for its wool, from which quality warm clothing can be generated. The alpaca in Chile is found in the regions of Antofagasta, Atacama and Coquimbo.

Chinchillas are similar to degus, but without their characteristic tail and being nocturnal, for which they have large, very sensitive whiskers. It weighs up to 750g, and has a small, plump body, which helps keep them warm. They feed on a wide variety of plants. It is currently distributed in Aucó, in the Las Chinchillas National Reserve and in La Higuera.

Among the native animals of Chile there are also lizards. This species of lizard is also known as the weeping lizard or screeching lizard , it is a small greenish lizard with yellowish longitudinal stripes that cross the back and tail. It reaches up to 30 cm in length. It can be found from Coquimbo to the Los Lagos region.

It is a species of lizard endemic to northern Chile , currently in a vulnerable state of conservation. It is brown in color with black spots throughout its body, which are usually concentrated on the sides and extremities, and it is large in size, up to 120 cm in length. It inhabits the coastal regions of Antofagasta and Atacama.

Find out more about the fauna and flora of the Atacama desert in this other AgroCorrn article.

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