Puna: The High Grassland of the
Andes
Puna is defined as cold alpine grassland where
conditions are severe. The essential difference between
puna and páramo is that puna is more arid. Windswept
and cold, puna at higher elevations is sometimes snow-
covered. Wind seems to be constant, and billowing
fog clouds are commonplace. Tussock grasses are
abundant (plate 13- 31), as are various succulents, such
as cacti. Wet puna (overlapping with páramo) occurs in
the northern and western Andes (Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru, Bolivia). Dry puna predominates to the south
(Chile and Argentina). Globally, puna- like alpine
grassland occurs in African mountains and in high
elevations in New Guinea. Tussock grasses of higher
elevations in New Zealand also form a similar alpine
grassland ecosystem.
The most striking of dry puna plants is Puya
raimondii, the world’s largest bromeliad, characterized
by a huge and dense basal cluster of thick swordlike
leaves. Puya flowers relatively infrequently. When it
does, its hundreds of flowers cluster on a stalk that
protrudes well above the leaves, rising as high as 8– 9
m (26.25– 29.5 ft). Puya, as well as other puna plants, is
visited by numerous hummingbird species.
Puna is habitat for many mammal species, including
the Vicuña (Vicugna vicugna), a South American
member of the camel family. Herds made up of a
dominant male and up to 10 females roam about
the barren puna. Another wild camel of the Andes,
somewhat larger than the Vicuña, is the Guanaco (Lama
guanicoe; plate 13- 32). It is perhaps ancestral to the
domesticated llama (Lama guanicoe glama) and alpaca
(L. g. pacos), whose origins date back to domestication
by pre- Columbian peoples. Llamas are the beasts of
burden for the mountain Indians, the modern Inca.
The husky Mountain Viscacha (Lagidium peruanum),
a member of the rodent family, is a close relative of the
chinchillas (Chinchilla spp.), two Andean species now
quite local due to overtrapping.
High above the puna and páramo, look for the
immense Andean Condor (Vu ltur g r y phu s; plate
13- 33) as it soars on heat currents rising from
the surrounding valleys. The condor soars almost
effortlessly, flying from mountaintop to seacoast.
Twice the size of a Turkey Vulture, the condor has a 3
m (9.8 ft) wingspread (surpassed, but only barely, by
the largest albatrosses) and can weigh as much as 15 kg
(about 33 lb), making it one of the most massive birds.
Vultures are scavengers, and historically the Andean
Condor was dependent on Vicuña and other mammals
for its food source. Condors are now known to rely on
carcasses of sheep and cattle in some areas.
Located in the puna, high elevation Andean salt
lakes are habitat for several flamingo species as well
as other birds rarely encountered at lower elevations.
The James’s Flamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi) was
considered extinct until rediscovered on a lake 4,400
m (14,450 ft) high in the Bolivian Andes in 1957.
More common are the Andean (P. andinus) and
Chilean (Phoenicopterus chilensis) Flamingos (plate
13- 34). All flamingos feed on brine shrimp and other
small crustaceans skimmed from the water with their
peculiar hatchet- shaped bills. The Puna Teal (Anas
puna; plate 13- 35) is another species of puna lakes.
Fast- flowing Andean rivers are habitat for the Torrent
Duck (Merganetta armata; plate 13- 36) and White-
capped Dipper (Cinclus leucocephalus). The sleek male
Torrent Duck has a white head boldly patterned with
black lines and a sharply pointed tail. The female is rich
brown. Both sexes have bright red bills. Six subspecies
of Torrent Duck occur from the northern Andes to the
extreme southern Andes. Torrent Ducks brave the most
rapid rivers, swimming submerged with only their heads
above water. The White- capped Dipper is a chunky bird
suggesting a large wren in shape. Like the Torrent Duck,
it favors clear, cold mountain rivers, submerging itself in
search of aquatic insects and crustaceans.
From condors to Torrent Ducks, from Guanacos to
espeletias, the high Andes offer so much. This chapter
has touched on just a few of the reasons to start climbing.248 chapter 13 scaling the andes