40 Fun Facts About Chinchillas

Wild chinchillas clean their dense coats by rolling in which fine material instead of water?

Volcanic ash soaks up oil and dirt from the coat, which is why pet chinchillas get a dust bath rather than a wash. If the fur gets wet, mould and matting can follow.

Chinchillas have the densest fur of any land mammal, but which marine mammal's coat is denser?

The sea otter packs up to 150,000 hairs into a square centimetre, against roughly 20,000 for a chinchilla, which still beats every other mammal living on land.

Pet chinchillas jump so well that owners have reported them leaping onto the top of which appliance?

A refrigerator is within range because a chinchilla can jump more than six feet high, using long hind legs built for leaping between mountain rocks.

A human hair follicle grows one to three hairs; roughly how many can sprout from one chinchilla follicle?

About 60 hairs can share a single follicle, which is what makes the coat feel so plush and leaves fleas and lice little room to live in it.

Chinchillas cannot sweat, so which body part do they pump blood through to cool down?

Ears are a chinchilla's only radiator: they are large and thinly haired, unlike the rest of a body wrapped in an extremely thick coat.

Chinchillas can shed a clump of coat to escape a predator's grip, a defence known by which name?

Fur slip leaves a predator holding a tuft of hair while the chinchilla gets away. Rough handling can set it off in pets, and the bare patch takes months to regrow.

Like rabbits, chinchillas routinely eat which unusual thing so that their food is digested twice?

Their own droppings include special soft pellets that chinchillas eat again to absorb nutrients missed the first time, a normal habit known as caecotrophy.

Chinchillas usually sleep upright in tight spaces, but can also doze in which surprising position?

Upside down is one of several odd sleeping poses for a chinchilla. Wild ones rest in rock crevices, so pets happily wedge themselves into very small gaps to nap.

Which food should dominate a pet chinchilla's diet because chewing it wears down ever-growing teeth?

Timothy hay should be on offer without limit, since a chinchilla's teeth never stop growing and soft pellets crumble too easily to grind them down.

Which popular pet rodent, also native to South America, is a relative of the chinchilla?

The guinea pig belongs to the same South American branch of rodents as the chinchilla, a group that also takes in porcupines and the giant capybara.

Baby chinchillas, which another mother in the colony may nurse if needed, are known by which name?

Kits usually arrive in litters of two, and a mother who cannot feed hers may get help from another nursing mother in the group.

A colony of wild chinchillas, which can number 100 animals or more, is properly known by which term?

A herd of chinchillas means more eyes watching for hawks, owls and foxes, which is thought to be one reason the animals live in such large groups.

Which ancient empire hunted chinchillas for meat and fur and is also said to have kept them as pets?

The Inca valued chinchillas centuries before Europeans did. Commercial fur hunting only took off in the 1800s, and within a century it had almost wiped the animals out.

Las Chinchillas National Reserve, a refuge for wild chinchillas, lies in which South American country?

Chile banned chinchilla hunting in 1929, but the law was not seriously enforced until this reserve was created at Aucó in 1983.

After a pregnancy of about 111 days, long for a rodent, newborn chinchillas arrive in which condition?

Furred with eyes open, a newborn chinchilla can run about almost at once and is able to nibble plant food well before it is weaned at six to eight weeks.

Among chinchillas bred in colours such as beige, ebony and violet, which shade is the most common?

Dark blue-gray is the dominant coat colour. Breeders have since added shades from white to charcoal, and eye colour can be black, pink or red depending on the coat genes.

A threatened chinchilla may growl, chatter its teeth and spray which liquid at a rival or predator?

Urine is a chinchilla's long-range warning, used alongside growls and tooth chattering, though serious fights between the animals are rare.

Chinchillas coo and chirp when content, but which sound do they make as an alarm call when startled?

A bark warns the rest of the group of danger. It is one of about ten distinct calls chinchillas use, which also include tooth chattering when irritated.

In their dry mountain home, wild chinchillas are thought to get most of their water from which plant?

Cactus flesh is probably a wild chinchilla's main drink, topped up with morning dew, while its staple food is a perennial needlegrass.

Since the 1970s, researchers have studied chinchillas mainly to learn about which human sense?

Hearing research favours chinchillas because their range of audible sound is close to a person's. As pets, they are easily startled by sudden loud noises.

A healthy chinchilla's front teeth, which never stop growing, are naturally which colour?

Dark orange incisors are a sign of good health in a chinchilla, and owners are told to check that the top and bottom pairs meet evenly.

Vets warn pet chinchilla owners never to use which popular hamster accessory?

An exercise ball is too small for a chinchilla and can roll into things and cause injuries, whereas a large, smooth running wheel is recommended.

The large dark eyes of a chinchilla have pupils of which shape, suited to seeing in dim light?

Vertical slits can open very wide in the dark, which suits an animal that leaves its rock crevice to feed at night. Chinchilla whiskers can also grow over 10 centimetres long.

Fur traders once used which explosive to blast chinchillas out of their rocky burrows?

Dynamite destroyed whole burrow systems and killed many chinchillas outright, one reason the wild animals were close to extinction by the early 1900s.

Because chinchillas are so small, a single full-length fur coat can require roughly how many pelts?

About 150 pelts can go into one coat, which is why demand for the fur pushed wild chinchillas to the brink. Most of the fur sold now comes from farmed animals.

Mathias F. Chapman, who brought the first chinchillas to the US in the 1920s, had which job?

A mining engineer by trade, Chapman got special permission to export a small group of chinchillas and spent over a year easing them down to lower altitude.

Unlike most male rodents, chinchilla fathers stay with the family and may take on which job?

Babysitting the young is one of the parental duties a chinchilla father may share, a rare trait in rodents. Mothers may even nurse each other's babies.

A stressed pet chinchilla may develop which habit, a vice that vets also call barbering?

Chewing its own coat leaves a chinchilla looking moth-eaten along the shoulders and flanks, and mothers often pass the habit on to their offspring.

Which recessive coat colour in pet chinchillas shares its name with a precious gemstone?

Sapphire is one of several recessive chinchilla colours, alongside violet and charcoal, so a baby shows it only when both parents carry the gene.

Chinchillas share the family Chinchillidae with which rabbit-like rodents of South America?

Viscachas look rather like long-tailed rabbits, and one species lives on the Argentine plains instead of the rocky heights that chinchillas prefer.

Ancestors of the chinchilla probably reached South America by rafting across the Atlantic from where?

Africa is the favoured starting point: small rodents are thought to have drifted over on mats of vegetation when the ocean was narrower than it is now.

Which treaty lists chinchillas in Appendix I, restricting international trade in wild animals and skins?

The CITES Convention bans international trade in wild chinchillas and their skins among member nations, though domestic animals are not covered.

The long-tailed chinchilla's species name, lanigera, is Latin for bearing a coat of which material?

Wool is a misnomer, since a chinchilla's coat is really fine, silky hair that grows two to four centimetres long.

In the IUCN's 2016 reassessment, both wild chinchilla species were placed in which Red List category?

Endangered was a step in the right direction: both species had been rated one level worse since 2008, and limited recovery in some areas prompted the change.

In a chinchilla colony, which animals are typically the larger, dominant and more aggressive members?

Adult females can weigh up to 800 grams, well above a typical male, and they dominate both rivals and mates during the breeding season.

Chinchillas are among the longest-lived rodents; a well-kept pet can reach roughly what age?

About 20 years is within reach for a pet chinchilla, around double the usual lifespan in the wild, which makes taking one on a long-term commitment.

A lone chinchilla hinting that a wild population survives in Peru was found in which unlikely place?

A restaurant in the town of Cerro de Pasco yielded the animal, a rare sign of hope in a country where wild chinchillas may otherwise be extinct.

Vets favour which chinchilla bedding because, unlike wood shavings, it will not block the gut if eaten?

Recycled paper passes safely through a chinchilla that nibbles its bedding, whereas swallowed wood shavings can cause a blockage.

Which vegetable should pet chinchillas get only rarely because it contains a lot of sugar?

Carrots are a rare treat for a chinchilla, even though their leafy tops are fine as a daily green alongside lettuce.

Besides illegal hunting, the gathering of which fuel is named as a threat to wild chinchilla habitat?

Firewood cutting strips the shrubs that wild chinchillas shelter and feed among, adding to the pressure from grazing goats and cattle.