Chinchilla Origins

Origins of Chinchillas

Chinchillas are a part of the rodent family. Like all rodents, they have constantly growing teeth. They are about the size of a small rabbit, and an average weight for a chinchilla is around 600g, although they can often be bigger. Chinchillas also live a lot longer than many types or rodents typically kept as pets. Our oldest chinchilla, a violet called Sparkey, is currently 12 years old - it is worth remembering that a chinchilla can live as long as a cat or a dog. Chinchillas are also nocturnal, sleeping for most of the day and waking up properly during the evening.

In the wild, the rabbit-like chinchilla live in desert-like conditions, nesting in crevices between volcanic rocks in the Andes. They can be found in the wild at high altitudes of between 3,000 and 15,000 ft in Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina. Their fur is a grey with a blue tinge that allows them to be camouflaged within their natural habitat.

They are roughly the size of a small rabbit, and have a bushy tail like a squirrel, large eyes, long whiskers and large round ears like a gerbil. They possess 32 teeth, of which only the 2 upper and 2 lower incisors are visible. They have very strong hind legs, allowing them to jump high and fast, and short forelegs. Their forepaws consist of 4 fingers and a thumb which they use as hands, mainly used for holding morsels of food.

They also possess a very dense coat of fur which protects them from the cold and allows them to cope with the fluctuations in climate and temperature. Their coats are usually too dense for either fleas or lice to survive in, with an average of approximately 80 hair follicles per square inch.

Chinchillas have long been valued for their fur. The native Incas used to kill chinchillas for food and their soft, warm fur, which was particularly lightweight. The lightness of its weight and its fine texture cannot be easily replicated, and so chinchillas have been exploited to a great degree by the fashion fur trade.

There are 2 types of chinchilla that exist in the wild in South America:

Chinchilla Brevicaudata - Thick neck, thick shoulders, short tail.
Chinchilla Lanigera - Angular face, pointed nose, long tail.

Chinchillas were first "discovered" by the Spanish in the 1500's, and in the 18th century many were killed an their pelts sold on to the clothing fur trade. By 1899 thousands of wild chinchilla pelts were exported annually. This caused a dramatic decline in the wild chinchilla population, which was nearly hunted to extinction. This only served to make the pelts more valuable and sought after, and clothing that incorporated chinchilla fur could only be afforded by the very wealthy.

Conservation measures were introduced making it illegal to hunt, trap or kill a wild chinchilla. With permission, chinchillas could be caught, but only for attempting to breed domestically, for setting up ranches. There were several attempts where teams caught chinchillas, but the captive chinchillas died during the descent down from the Andes.

In 1922, permission to catch and export chinchillas to California for a breeding programme was granted to Mathias F. Chapman, a mining engineer. With a team of men native to the area, he gathered a small group of 11 chinchillas - 8 males and 3 females. They descended from the Andes gradually, as Chapman believed that the swift descent taken by previous teams had played a great part in the deaths of the previously caught chinchillas.

After the descent Chapman's chinchillas were shipped to California, crossing the equator by sea. During the journey 1 chinchilla died, but a litter of kits was born. In California Chapman conducted tests on various living quarters and diets. He successfully started breeding chinchillas and set up a ranch. He selectively bred the chinchillas for fur quality for the fur trade. Within the 40 years that followed chinchilla ranches became widespread in the USA, as he sold on the chinchillas he bred to others who wished to set up ranches. Chapman's original 11 chinchillas became the nucleus for the origins of chinchilla ranching in the USA and Canada.

Towards the end of the 20th century there was a new awareness of the fur trade brought on by animal rights activists. There was a public outcry against the fur trade and fur farming became outlawed in some parts of the world, including in the UK. Some ranches began to close. This opened an increasing number of chinchillas to the pet trade, which has been growing ever since.

Timeline - The Appearance of Mutations

Below is a timeline of when the main colour mutations in chinchillas first appeared:

1930	Chapman starts selling chinchillas for establishing herds.
1954	Mentions of a recessive beige bred in New York, USA.
1955	Wilson White, California, USA.
1955	Tower Beige, Oregon, USA (bred by Ned Jensen, then bought by Nick Tower).
1956	Gunning Black / Black Velvet, Washington, USA (more mentions in 1961).
1956-8	Brouke Charcoal.
1960	Sullivan Violets / African Violets, Rhodesia, South Africa - sold to Sullivan ranch in California ranch at a time of war in Africa. The term `African Violet` was good for marketing at the time.
1960	Sullivan Beige, California, USA.
1961	Wellman Beige, a recessive black eyed beige. This is quite possibly the same recessive beige as mentioned 1954.
1963	Larsen Sapphire, Indiana, USA .
1969	Young Lavender-Brown, Oklahoma, USA - violet, but with a brown tinge.
1995	Gold Baar, Canada?