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Chinchilla Temporal range: Late Oligocene - Recent
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Chinchillidae Bennett, 1833
Genus:	Chinchilla Bennett, 1829
Species:	Chinchilla lanigera (Molina, 1782)
Genera
Chinchilla  sp. Chinchilla lanigera  sp. Chinchilla brevicaudata

Chinchillas and their relatives viscachas are small, crepuscular rodents native to the Andes mountains in South America and belonging to the family Chinchillidae. In Chinese, they are called lóng māo, which literally means "dragon-cat".

Chinchillas must regularly bathe in dust or volcanic ash to remove oil and moisture that gathers in their thick fur. In fact, they have the highest fur density of any land animal with more than 20,000 hairs per square cm (see sea Otter). Their fur is so dense that skin parasites (such as fleas) cannot live on one lest they suffocate. Where humans grow one hair from each follicle, a chinchilla has more than fifty hairs from a single follicle.

The international trade in chinchilla fur goes back to the 1500s and the animal (whose name literally means "Little Chincha") is named after the Chincha people of the Andes, who wore its soft and dense fur. By the end of the 19th century, chinchillas had become quite rare.

Mathias F. Chapman, a mining engineer from California, was working in Chile in 1918 when he purchased a chinchilla as a pet and took a liking to it. He envisioned raising a whole herd of chinchillas. He applied to the Chilean goverment for permission to capture and transport several animals to the US. Chinchillas were already close to extinction by now from humans killing them for their soft pelts. The Chilean goverment was reluctant to grant trapping permission, but Chapman persisted, and eventually the goverment let him do it. Chapman and a group of men searched the mountain for four years and caught only eleven chinchillas. He then took the 12,000 foot climb down over a period of twelve months so the chinchillas could acclimate to the changing environment. He then brought the eleven wild chinchillas he had captured to the U.S. for breeding. He had the first Chinchilla farm in the U.S.A. Only three of these were female.

Since the mid-1960s, chinchillas have become increasingly popular as house pets. This peculiar rodent is also studied by linguists due to its aural range of perception. It is considered the closest to that of a human.

In their native habitat, chinchillas live in burrows or crevices in rocks. They are agile jumpers and can jump up to five feet above their head. Predators in the wild include hawks, skunks, felines, and canines. In the wild chinchillas have been observed eating plants, fruits, seeds, and small insects; however, attempting to simulate or feed this formula in captivity can lead to serious illness or even death.

In nature, chinchillas are gray, while other colors have been developed in captivity. The major color mutations are: white (incomplete dominant), beige (dominant), ebony, violet (recessive) and sapphire (recessive). Variations of these mutations also exist. For example, a silver is a variety of white in which the fur is tipped with silver. The white gene has an "incomplete dominance," (not completely dominant over the natural allele "standard" gray) can result in a large variety of white fur, including the mosaic variety.

In nature, chinchillas live in colonies. Chinchilla females are significantly bigger than males. Chinchillas can breed any time of the year. At 111 days, they have a very long gestation period compared to other rodents. Due to this long pregnancy, chinchillas are born fully furred and with eyes open. Litters range from one to seven babies, although the yearly average litter size is 1.45. In the case of a miscarriage, the fetus is frequently absorbed into the body of the mother.

chincillas are fat and ugly

See also

• Viscacha

Sources

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/alpine_animal_page.htm

External links

• Save the Wild Chinchillas - An organization dedicated to preserving wild chinchilla populations.
• ChinCare - Chinchilla information, safety, and rescuing.
• Chinchilla Colour Chart - A great page with nearly all chinchilla color mutations and pictures for each.
• Cheeky Chinchillas - Information about chinchillas as pets. Includes a very good page on chinchilla health.

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• Articles lacking sources from July 2006
• Pet rodents
• Hystricognath rodents
• Mammals of South America