Ear and tail signals Changes in ear positions by only a few degrees can telegraph alertness, contentment or displeasure. A relaxed animal often holds its ears straight up or slightly back. A threatening animal uses a continuum of ear positions to keep overanxious males at bay, warn a chulengo to take its playfulness elsewhere or put a nearby adult on notice that it is intruding into another animal's foraging space. Often if the ear messages and a sequence of other warnings fail, the trespasser may get spit upon until it leaves. Spitting can be mild or severe.
Disputes are farcical when animals of equal stature square off.
Using regurgitated food from its stomach for ammo, one animal fires directly into the face of its adversary, who responds in kind. In a matter of seconds, one animal usually yields. Ear and tail position in concert with body posture is a chief form of visual communication which helps maintain order in the family group. Such body language is more subtle, with more nuances, than dramatic territorial displays, but also more common. Vocalizations Guanacos are almost always talking.