The Chinchilla is in the Mammal family (Mammalia). They are Rodents (Rodentia), and their family is called the Chinchillidae (Chinchillas and Visachas). Chinchillas are crepuscular rodents, slightly larger and more robust than ground squirrels, and are native to the Andes mountains in South America. They live in colonies at high altitudes (up to 15,000 ft/4,270 m) in the Andes of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. Along with their relatives, viscachas, they make up the family Chinchillidae.

The animal (whose name literally means "little Chincha") is named after the Chincha people of the Andes, who once wore its dense, velvet-like fur. By the end of the 19th century, chinchillas had become quite rare due to hunting for their fur.

Native environment

In their native habitat in the Andes mountains in South America, chinchillas live in burrows or crevices in rocks. They are agile jumpers and can jump up to 6 ft (1.8 m). Predators in the wild include birds of prey, skunks, felines, snakes and canines. Chinchillas have a variety of defensive tactics including spraying urine and releasing fur if bitten. In the wild, chinchillas have been observed eating plants, fruits, seeds, and small insects.This diet could irritate the digestive system of a domestic chinchilla whose diet should be primarily hay-based, if a domestic chinchilla should ingest a seed/nut it could result in disease or death .

In nature, chinchillas live in social groups that resemble colonies but are properly called herds. Chinchillas can breed any time of the year. Their gestation period is 111 days, longer than most rodents. Due to this long pregnancy, chinchillas are born fully furred and with eyes open. Litters are usually small in number, predominantly twins.

Chinchilla Color Variation

The standard gray (pictured above) is the natural color of a chinchilla. However many mutation and mutation hybrid colors have been bred. Standard gray colors are usually classed as light, medium, dark and extra dark. Standards should have a pure white belly and a blue hue. Some mutation colors are beige, beige bothe, homo beige, hetero beige, wellman beige, beige recessive, rzewski beige, tower beige, sullivan beige, tan and pastel, homo tan, dark tan, pearls (which are considered beige violets), ebony (coming in light, medium, dark and extra dark), (hetero ebony is another name for the medium ebony), ebony mosaic, solid white sapphire, white sapphire, white violet, white, pink white, albino (which is usually a pink white not a true albino although albinos can occur in any species including humans), tan white, pink white, white, silver, wilson white, white tail or sometimes called recessive white, stone white, solid violet or violet wrap, sullivan violet (which is a lavender), ultra violet or TOV violet, black velvet, brown velvet, violet and goldbar, sapphire, larsen sapphire, tasco, french blue, busse, royal blue, young lavender-brown, brown velvet, charcoal, sakrison, charbrown, blue diamond, gunning black, lester black, treadwell black, among others.