Bolivia to Monkeys: Move Over for Camels and Llamas

The Chinese calendar might say that 2016 is the year of the monkey, but the Bolivian government hopes that the United Nations will give it another name: the International Year of Camelid.

Yes, that’s right. A year to honor the camelid family: llamas, alpacas, vicunas, guanacos, and of course, camels themselves. Or more simply, just any animal with two-toed hooves, spitty mouths, and sometimes a hump or two if they live in a desert in the Middle East, North Africa, or Asia.

The Bolivian-sponsored resolution was introduced before the United Nations General Assembly last week but is currently under discussion and won’t be voted on until later this month.

The resolution makes the case for why the world should be more aware of the positive influence camelids can have on an economy, and notes that "camelids are strictly herbivorous, even-toed ungulate mammals that first appeared in America 45 million years ago." It also states there is a "need to raise awareness at all levels to promote the protection of camelids and the consumption of the goods produced from these mammals in a sustainable manner."

And Bolivians have good reason to appreciate this furry species. In their small, landlocked country in western South America, vicuna fur creates some of the world’s most expensive wool. In some small communities, families work together to catch and shear the wild animals inside nature reserves. Once they’ve collected enough fur, the vicunas are free to go back to the wild. According to a CBS News report from 2013, families can earn upwards of $300 in one shearing season.

That’s not too shabby in a country where the average annual income is about $2,550 and 45 percent of the population lives in poverty.

Vicunas are no longer a source of meat in Bolivia, however, where they were once hunted nearly to extinction. In many parts of the Middle East and North Africa, camel meat is considered a delicacy, and in South America, lean and sweet alpaca and llama meat is not unusual.

The first-ever United Nations "international year" was 1959’s World Refugee Year.  

Although 2016 has already been named the International Year of Pulses — as in the legumes, not the heartrate — who better to share it with than the herbivorous camelid family? After all, in 2009, the International Year of Reconciliation shared the spotlight with the International Year of Gorillas; in 2004, the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition didn’t seem to have any problem sharing the stage with the International Year of Rice.