The chinchilla is a small rodent native to the high-altitude Andes mountains of South America, known for its extremely dense, soft fur, among the densest of any mammal, with dozens of hairs growing from each follicle, an adaptation to the cold mountain climate that also made it a major target of the historical fur trade. Wild chinchillas live in colonies among rocky outcrops and crevices at high elevation, are mainly active at dusk and night, and feed on grasses, seeds and other sparse mountain vegetation. Intensive hunting for fur during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries drove wild populations to the brink of extinction, and although the species survives in captivity and as a popular pet worldwide, wild chinchilla populations remain critically endangered, confined to a few fragmented sites in Chile.
Facts
Classification
System (Realm) ThreatsBiological Resource Use 4 Relationship to People Living or ExtinctDerived from this species' own Conservation Status: this atlas's IUCN category list has no Extinct value, so a set conservation-status is itself evidence of living status. Identification
Distinguishing AppearanceHas the densest fur of any extant terrestrial mammal, with roughly 20,000 hairs per square centimeter and about 50 hairs per follicle. 1 Comparison
CITES Appendix Scientific NameChinchilla lanigera and Chinchilla chinchilla 1 Conservation Status Connections
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. Chinchilla (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening sentence
Chinchilla is a genus consisting of two species (Chinchilla chinchilla and Chinchilla lanigera) of crepuscular rodents of the parvorder Caviomorpha, native to the Andes Mountains in South America.
Conservation section, IUCN listing sentence
Both species of chinchilla are currently listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to a severe population loss approximated at a 90% global population loss since 2001.
Description section, fur density sentence
Chinchillas have the densest fur of all extant terrestrial mammals, with around 20,000 hairs per square centimeter and 50 hairs growing from each follicle.
- In Biome: Alpine, Wikipedia 'Chinchilla': live in colonies at high elevations up to 4,270 m in the Andes
View the Source 2. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Animal Diversity Web: Chinchilla lanigera
Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of ZoologyPrimary Diet, Chinchilla lanigera
Primary Diet herbivore herbivore
Conservation Status: CITES
CITES Appendix I
View the Source 3. Chinchilla (Wikipedia)
4. Wikipedia: Chinchilla
threat (MediaWiki batch-API article extract states it plainly)
By the end of the 19th century, chinchillas had become quite rare after being hunted for their notably soft fur.
Conservation section
In 2006, the long-tailed species was listed as "Vulnerable" while the short-tailed species was listed as "Critically Endangered".
View the SourceWikidata: Chinchilla
Wikidata Q192930, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Long-tailed chinchilla (Wikipedia)
Catalogue of Life
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of LifeChild Taxon Of: RodentiaView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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