Notes

Chinchilla fur was originally mottled yellow-gray in the wild, according to The Merck Veterinary Manual. Through selective breeding, however, other colors have become common, including silver, yellow-gray, bluish-gray, white, beige and black. Each hair ends in a black tip, no matter what color the chinchillas are.

First appearing around 41 million years ago, the chinchilla's ancestors were some of the first rodents to infest South America. Chinchilla fur became popular in the 1700s, and the animals were hunted nearly to extinction by 1900. About that time, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru banned the hunting of wild chinchillas.With short forelimbs and long, muscular hind legs, chinchillas resemble rabbits, but their ears are much shorter and rounder. They have large, black eyes and bushy tails. They have four toes on each foot, and the thin claws on each toe are surrounded by stiff bristles.Chinchillas are covered in thick fur for a reason. In the Andes, they can live in elevations of about 3,000 to 5,000 meters (9,800 to 16,400 feet). At those heights, it can be very cold — 23 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 5 degrees C) is the average minimum temperature in some places. Chinchillas can tolerate freezing temperatures, but they cannot survive in temperatures higher than 80 F (27 C); high temperatures and humidity can cause these rodents to suffer from heat stroke. - See more at: http://www.livescience.com/28131-chinchillas.html#sthash.5rcAjNqU.dpufChinchillas are crepuscular and nocturnal, which means they are very active at dawn or dusk and sleep during the day. They make their homes by burrowing in underground tunnels or nestling in rock crevasses. They are very social and live in colonies that consist of hundreds of chinchillas.

Females tend to be aggressive toward other females. When females are ready to mate, they can also be aggressive toward males, and are the dominant of the two genders. Females are mostly monogamous; they have only one mate throughout their lives.