Les origines du chinchilla de compagnie

Where is coming from the gorgeous fur, so light and dense at the same time, of your pet chin ?
Nature gave him this gift : his ancestors from the wild used to live in South America, in the Andean high plateaus and their territory stretched from Chile, to Peru, Bolivia and Argentina.

The chinchillas and the viscachas, their closer cousin, live in very dry areas, acknowledging extreme temperatures, very low at night but which can become stifling during the day since they can live up to four thousant kilometers high. They most certainly could not have inherited such a fur in tropical areas !

They take care of their fur by rolling themselves on the sand or rock dust.

The fauna in these areas is particularly rare and poor consisting mainly in grass, cactuses and bushes. There is no need to tell that the living conditions there are difficult.

However, our little friend adapted himself perfectly to this hostile milieu and this rudimentary diet forced him to developp a very specific digestive system. He can actually digest very dry food containing a lot of fibers.

In order to protect himself from the heat, the chinchilla sleeps during the day in rock holes or in other rodents' abandonned lairs. The pet chin kept this habit of being awake at night even though he wakes up from time to time during the day for a little snack.

Their capacity to let escape tufts of hairs between your fingers also comes from their origins from the wild : it is for them the only way to try and escape from their two main predators : the condor and the Andean mountain cat.

However, it does not allow him to escape his most dangerous predators : men.

If the Incas used their fur, it did not endanger this species. However, from the 18th century on, the Europeans hunted chinchillas lacking judgement and almost brought the species into extinction.
In 1910, local authorities banned the capture of chinchillas.

After 1910, only one person got the authorisation to capture a few chins. His name was MF Chapman and he is, in some way, the Father of our chins. He had to face an incredible amount of difficulties to bring 11 chins (7 females and 4 males) to the United States and managed to start a chinchilla farm.

He succeeded since almost all our pet chins come from his original livestock.

A few pictures of the Andes Cordillera ...

Merci à Laurent Guerinaud pour ces magnifiques photos.
N'hésitez pas à cliquer sur ces miniatures pour découvrir
d'autres photos toutes aussi splendides du milieu naturel de notre Eryomis.

Mr Chapman's answer to the department of agriculture.

Last update : Thursday, July 22, 2010 - Dispense CNI N°8