Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Though protected in the Iberá area, the capybara is farmed and hunted else-
where for its skin, which makes a soft, flexible leather. The meat is also considered
a delicacy in traditional communities.
In the drier northwest the most conspicuous animal is the domestic llama, but its wild
cousins, the guanaco and vicuña
,
can also be seen. Your odds of seeing them are excel-
lent if you travel by road through Parque Nacional Los Cardones to Salta. Their yellow
fur is often an extraordinary puff of color against the cactus-studded backdrop. Many mi-
gratory birds, including flamingos, inhabit the high saline lakes of the Andean Northw-
est.
In less densely settled areas, including the arid pampas of La Pampa province, guana-
cos and foxes are not unusual sights. Many bodies of water, both permanent and season-
al, provide migratory-bird habitat.
Most notable in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego is the wealth of coastal wildlife, ran-
ging from Magellanic penguins, cormorants and gulls to sea lions, fur seals, elephant
seals, orcas and whales. Several coastal reserves, from Río Negro province south to Ti-
erra del Fuego, are home to enormous concentrations of wildlife that are one of the re-
gion's greatest visitor attractions. Inland on the Patagonian steppe, as in the northwest,
the guanaco is the most conspicuous mammal, but the flightless rhea, resembling the os-
trich, runs in flocks across the plains.
