Chinchillas
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40 free Chinchillas trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Chinchillas look like a cross between a squirrel and a cloud, and almost everything about them is a little odd. They come from high in the Andes, they wash without water, and their coat is so thick that it holds a record among land mammals. This quiz turns the best fun facts about chinchillas into multiple-choice questions. It covers their fur and the tricks they use to escape predators, how they eat, sleep, jump and raise their babies, where the last wild colonies live, and how the fur trade nearly finished them off. There is plenty for pet owners too, from diet and dust baths to the gear vets tell you to avoid. The questions suit curious kids, new owners and anyone who has just met a chinchilla and wants to know more. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will pick up a fact or two even when you guess wrong.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Wild chinchillas clean their dense coats by rolling in which fine material instead of water?
Volcanic ash
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.
Q 02Chinchillas have the densest fur of any land mammal, but which marine mammal's coat is denser?
Sea otter
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.
Q 03Pet chinchillas jump so well that owners have reported them leaping onto the top of which appliance?
A refrigerator
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.
Q 04A human hair follicle grows one to three hairs; roughly how many can sprout from one chinchilla follicle?
About 60
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.
Q 05Chinchillas cannot sweat, so which body part do they pump blood through to cool down?
Ears
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.
Q 06Chinchillas can shed a clump of coat to escape a predator's grip, a defence known by which name?
Fur slip
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.
Q 07Like rabbits, chinchillas routinely eat which unusual thing so that their food is digested twice?
Their own droppings
Their own droppings include special soft pellets that chinchillas eat again to absorb nutrients missed the first time, a normal habit known as caecotrophy.
Q 08Chinchillas usually sleep upright in tight spaces, but can also doze in which surprising position?
Upside down
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.
Q 09Which food should dominate a pet chinchilla's diet because chewing it wears down ever-growing teeth?
Timothy hay
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.
Q 10Which popular pet rodent, also native to South America, is a relative of the chinchilla?
Guinea pig
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.
Q 11Baby chinchillas, which another mother in the colony may nurse if needed, are known by which name?
Kits
Kits usually arrive in litters of two, and a mother who cannot feed hers may get help from another nursing mother in the group.
Q 12A colony of wild chinchillas, which can number 100 animals or more, is properly known by which term?
A herd
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.
Q 13Which ancient empire hunted chinchillas for meat and fur and is also said to have kept them as pets?
Inca
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.
Q 21A healthy chinchilla's front teeth, which never stop growing, are naturally which colour?
Dark orange
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.
Q 22Vets warn pet chinchilla owners never to use which popular hamster accessory?
An exercise ball
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.
Q 23The large dark eyes of a chinchilla have pupils of which shape, suited to seeing in dim light?
Vertical slits
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.
Q 14Las Chinchillas National Reserve, a refuge for wild chinchillas, lies in which South American country?
Chile
Chile banned chinchilla hunting in 1929, but the law was not seriously enforced until this reserve was created at Aucó in 1983.
Q 15After a pregnancy of about 111 days, long for a rodent, newborn chinchillas arrive in which condition?
Furred with eyes open
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.
Q 16Among chinchillas bred in colours such as beige, ebony and violet, which shade is the most common?
Dark blue-gray
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.
Q 17A threatened chinchilla may growl, chatter its teeth and spray which liquid at a rival or predator?
Urine
Urine is a chinchilla's long-range warning, used alongside growls and tooth chattering, though serious fights between the animals are rare.
Q 18Chinchillas coo and chirp when content, but which sound do they make as an alarm call when startled?
A bark
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.
Q 19In their dry mountain home, wild chinchillas are thought to get most of their water from which plant?
Cactus
Cactus flesh is probably a wild chinchilla's main drink, topped up with morning dew, while its staple food is a perennial needlegrass.
Q 20Since the 1970s, researchers have studied chinchillas mainly to learn about which human sense?
Hearing
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.
Q 24Fur traders once used which explosive to blast chinchillas out of their rocky burrows?
Dynamite
Dynamite destroyed whole burrow systems and killed many chinchillas outright, one reason the wild animals were close to extinction by the early 1900s.
Q 25Because chinchillas are so small, a single full-length fur coat can require roughly how many pelts?
About 150
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.
Q 26Mathias F. Chapman, who brought the first chinchillas to the US in the 1920s, had which job?
Mining engineer
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.
Q 27Unlike most male rodents, chinchilla fathers stay with the family and may take on which job?
Babysitting the young
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.
Q 28A stressed pet chinchilla may develop which habit, a vice that vets also call barbering?
Chewing its own coat
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.
Q 29Which recessive coat colour in pet chinchillas shares its name with a precious gemstone?
Sapphire
Sapphire is one of several recessive chinchilla colours, alongside violet and charcoal, so a baby shows it only when both parents carry the gene.
Q 30Chinchillas share the family Chinchillidae with which rabbit-like rodents of South America?
Viscachas
Viscachas look rather like long-tailed rabbits, and one species lives on the Argentine plains instead of the rocky heights that chinchillas prefer.