Chinchilla
(Chinchilla laniger)

Range: Central and South America

Habitat: Andes Mountains

Diet: Alfalfa, vegetables, leaves, pellets, insects, fruit.

Identification: Grey, round, rabbit-like mammals with bushy tails.

Notes: Chinchillas have incredibly soft, dense fur with short hairs. They have long bushy tails. Their fur cannot get wet as it allows fungus to grow in it. Their fur is incredibly dense, they have over twenty-thousand hairs per square centimeter. The fur is also incredibly fine, as much as 40x thinner than a human hair. Chinchillas take dust baths to clean their fur. They are very energetic.  Wild chinchillas are capable of jumping 8 feet in the air. They are also easily excited. Chinchillas are crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk. Their large eyes help them to see better in low light levels and they have excellent hearing due to their large ears. Chinchillas are sexually dimorphic, male chinchillas are smaller than females. Chinchillas live in large groups in the wild. Chinchillas are intelligent and are becoming a popular pet rodent, though they are not a good choice for most people. Wild chinchillas are a protected species, but they are still poached for their fur.

At The Children’s Museum: The Children’s Museum has Chinchillas in the UTC Wildlife Sanctuary.