Mathew Phan
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Home   People   Pets       :: Bathing       :: Breeding       :: Care       :: Colors       :: Description       :: Health       :: History       :: Nutrition       :: Pictures   Hobbies   Favorites   Experience   Contact	Chinchilla Description The chinchilla's natural habitat is high in the Andes of Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. Classified as members of the order Rodentia, chinchillas are small rodents related to squirrels, guinea pigs, mice, hamsters, and gerbils. Chinchillas are the most expensive of all rodents in the world because their soft fur is the most sought-after of all skins used in making garments. The two species of chinchillas, Chinchilla brevicaudata and Chinchilla lanigera, are outwardly almost indistinguishable. Both specias have long hind limbs, short fourlimbs, four toes, and flexible digits. C. brevicaudata presents a stockier apperance than C. lanigera. It has a thicker neck and shoulders, shorter ears, and a flatter nose than C. lanigera. It is heavily furred with light gray hair often tinged with a yellowish hue. C. lanigera has a sleeker look because of its narrower neck and shoulders and somewhat more pointed face and elongated ears. The fur is very silky, usually medium to dark gray with a bright bluish cast. Only C. langera is commonly available. Similar to other rodents such as beavers, hamsters, and guinea pigs, chinchillas have two continuously growing incisor teeth in the upper jaw and two in the lower jaw. They are nocturnal animals, being active mostly at dusk and at night. During daylight hours in the wild, they sleep in dark hiding places such as holes and crevices. As the sun goes down they begin to search for food. What sets chinchillas apart from the rest of the rodents is their fur. It is so silky, dense, light, and soft that it is virtually unmatched by any other fur-bearing animal. Each hair grows in an agouti pattern of three colored bands: the lower zone (undercoat), the band, and the veil (clouding). Special guard hairs protrude a few tenths of an inch (several millimeters) beyond the undercouat of the fur and provide elasticity to a mature pelt. The adominal fur usually does not have the agouti markings but instead is a solid patch of white to light gray. Both species were originally brought to the United States to be bred as fur producers. Since C. langeria adapted better to captivity and reproduced better, C. brevicaudata was eventually dropped from most fur-farming programs. Therefore, it is generally assumed that mos of the animals in the United States are C. lanigera descendants. Culls and other poor fur specimens became the first chinchillas offered as commercial pets. Today most pets on the market have been bred just for that purpose. C. brevicaudata and C. lanigera are now mostly extinct in their original range. Protected by their governments, chinchillas cannot be legally hunted or trapped, but the hungry natives still eat them (and guinea pigs, too). The wild chinchilla population is on the U.S. Endangered Species list.