Lama guanicoe

9.6

A wild animal like a llama that lives in South America

noun

Specialized

: guanaco

Unlike domesticated llamas, the Lama guanicoe lives entirely in the wild.

Examples

Researchers tracked the movements of wild Lama guanicoe herds using GPS collars.
The Lama guanicoe is well adapted to the arid regions of Patagonia.
Look at the Lama guanicoe!
The Lama guanicoe roams the Andean mountains.
Researchers tracked the movements of wild Lama guanicoe herds using GPS collars.
The Lama guanicoe is well adapted to the arid regions of Patagonia.
Unlike domesticated llamas, the Lama guanicoe lives entirely in the wild.

Synonyms

guanaco

vsLama guanicoe

9.3

A wild South American animal like a llama with soft wool

is the formal scientific species name used in classification

Surface Forms

Lama guanicoe singular

Lama guanicoes plural

Morphology

Lama + guanicoe

This is a Latin scientific binomial (genus + species) rather than a compositional English phrase; the constituents are not common English words and carry no predictable, literal meaning for a B1 learner. Taxonomic names are essentially arbitrary labels for a species, so the sense ‘a wild South American mammal (guanaco)’ cannot be derived from the parts without prior knowledge.

Etymology

Lama guanicoe is the scientific name for the wild guanaco. The first part, Lama, shows it is like a llama and the second part, guanicoe, likely comes from the local word 'guanaco', so the name literally points to the llama-like animal called a guanaco.