History

Origin

Dragon Their ancestors once lived in the rock crevices at an altitude of 500-1200 meters in the Andes Mountains of South America. Although the climate is cold and arid, and the temperature difference between day and night is great, chinchillas still live a peaceful and happy gregarious life. In the hometown of chinchillas, food is very scarce, chinchillas can only live on bark, grass roots, cactus, etc., which makes chinchillas have tenacious vitality and resistance. It is precisely because of such harsh natural conditions  that chinchillas naturally reduce the number of births and prolong the pregnancy cycle during the evolution process: chinchillas have only 1-3 per litter, The average gestation period was as high as 111 days. But another benefit is that chinchillas have the longest lifespan among rodents, with an average lifespan of 12-20 years, and a record of being healthy for up to 35 years in captivity. So chinchillas can accompany the owner for a long time as a pet. Chinchillas have the densest fur in the world, and each pore has 40-60 down hairs. In the United States, which has the best provenance, it can reach 80 per pore (cats and dogs only have 1-3 hairs per pore). In the hometown of Chinchilla, the fur of Chinchilla is a symbol of power, auspiciousness and wealth, and it is the ornament of the indigenous chiefs. In the 16th century, Spanish colonists set foot on the hometown of chinchillas. They found that the fur of this small animal was so soft and its temperament so docile. Centuries of hunting and the proliferation of foxes made chinchillas almost extinct. By the beginning of the 19th century, the chinchillas had been hunted to the brink of extinction. A mining engineer from the United States, MFChapman, offered a high reward. It took four years to collect 11 chinchillas (8 males and 3 females) and bring them back to the United States for successful breeding. , you and I have the opportunity to raise this cute little animal today. At present, most of the chinchillas in the world are descendants of these 11 chinchillas.

At present, wild chinchillas have been undiscovered for a long time and are likely to be extinct. They are Class I protected animals under the Washington Convention. At present, the United States has the largest number of chinchillas, followed by Canada, Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Chile, Uruguay and other countries. Hong Kong, Japan and other places do not have established chinchilla farms due to climate and geography. They do not produce chinchillas, but they are sold privately. The quality and quantity are not stable. There are countless farms in the northern states of the United States that have bred a large number of chinchillas over the years, and the most bred farms currently known are about 8,000. Canada has imported chinchillas from the United States since 1937, and the main producing areas are British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. Since the United States was the first country to successfully artificially bred chinchillas, American breeders can be regarded as the most experienced experts. The first chinchilla breeders association ECBC (Empress Chinchilla Breeders' Cooperative) was established in 1938. The organization is purely for breeders who are committed to the fur industry. In 1950, more and more people breed special chinchillas, and another association was born, that is, MCBA (Mutation Chinchilla Breeders'Association) MCBA will be held every year in Various competitions, large and small, are held in various provinces across the country, so that breeders can observe and exchange ideas with each other. At present, farmers in the United States and Canada highly respect the standards and competitions established by the two associations.

Wild chinchillas live in polar climates such as rock crevices, caves and shrubs in the Andes Mountains of South America, located in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru at an altitude of 500-1200 meters. Also known as Rabbit.

Wild chinchillas have a large temperature difference between day and night. This is the shrub, flowers, and fruits they like to eat. They can also hide under these thorny shrubs to protect themselves.

There are some Indian tribes who are called chinchillas by the Spanish. They like to use the fur of chinchillas as bedding and like to eat their meat. The English name of chinchillas comes from this: cinchilla). It has several names in our country: biologists call it South America; the farm calls it; the fur industry calls it cyan; and those of us like it at heart and regard it as the best in the world People who love pets call it My Neighbor Totoro because it played the leading role in the movie of Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki!

Origin

The dragon is native to the Andes Mountains of South America and is a rodent that has existed since prehistoric times.

Shortly after the Spanish took over the American continent, the chinchilla was regarded as an international treasure due to its luxurious and soft fur.

Previously, chinchillas thrived in the arid, steep mountains of the Andes in Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. The name of chinchillas comes from the local Indians - Chinchas, who use chinchillas for food and clothing. In the 15th century, a race of Indians called the Chinchas hunted the tiny animals for food and made beds with their fur. They also wear robes knitted from chinchilla fur. The Spaniards named this small animal Chinchilla after the Chinchas family. Later, the Chinchas were conquered by the mighty Inca Empire.

Under the laws of the Inca Empire, the Chinchas were forbidden to wear robes made of chinchilla fur. They immediately became the exclusive pelt of the Inca royal family and were only allowed to be worn by the Inca nobles. In the 16th century, the Spanish conquistadors sought noble offerings for their queens, and the Incas were successively conquered by the Spanish.

Legend has it that a special envoy, hoping to please the queen, presented the queen with a large box full of jewels and gold objects, which he wrapped in a chinchilla robe robbed from an Inca chief. However, the messenger he sent stole the jewels, presented only the box containing the chinchilla skin robes, and fled. The queen was overjoyed because of such exquisite and noble fur. The thief was found and brought back to the court where he was pardoned from torture and death. Instead, he was knighted for this rare and delicate fur, as the queen had never seen a more beautiful and luxurious fur than a chinchilla before. Since then, chinchillas have been known to the civilized world, and countless Spanish women have sought out the same fur that their queen wore. It is so soft, light, delicate and elegant, and lustrous, that it arouses the admiration of people, and people feel lucky to see a chinchilla. This makes the Spaniards in South America eager to seek chinchillas, just as they are also keen on gold and gems. News of the existence of such rare and lovely furs spread quickly across Europe. Gold diggers have historically invited hunting-loving Britons to the Andes Mountains, as red foxes began to proliferate in the chinchillas' natural habitat. On weekends, the British hunt foxes, but foxes hunt chinchillas every day. Due to the demand for fur and the killing of foxes, the chinchillas are dwindling to the brink of extinction. In 1918, the governments of Chile, Peru and Bolivia enacted legislation to protect fur exports. However, the fate of the chinchillas on the brink of extinction has been irreversible.

In 1918, Mathias F. Chapman, an American mining engineer, learned about the precious value of chinchillas in Chile by chance, and a local Indian migrant worker brought one of this precious animal to mining camp. Mathias F. Chapman recognized the invaluable value of chinchillas and was shocked by their tragic fate, so he considered capturing some to bring back to the United States for breeding to save the species. His partners thought chinchillas were practically nearly extinct, and past captive breeding efforts had failed, so when he handed over his plan to save chinchillas, they thought he must be crazy. Even so, he began to gather some Indian migrant workers and promised them a lot of gold to buy every live chinchilla. Finally, four years later, in the Andes Mountains, home to 23 Indian tribes, a handful of this precious animal was amassed. A total of 11 animals, 8 males, 3 females, were allowed to be brought back to the United States. It took Chapman several months to gradually adapt them to changes in the environment, altitude, temperature and humidity before gradually removing them from a plateau of 10,000 feet above sea level. Ship to port. Cool the room temperature with ice and feed them native food along the way. In February 1923, he finally transported the chinchillas to the port of San-Pedro, California, and successfully bred them there so that the chinchillas would not become extinct. Since the original 11 chinchillas in 1923, the chinchilla industry has slowly developed. By 1950, captive-bred chinchillas were being sold for thousands of dollars (equivalent to the current value of tens of thousands of dollars) per pair. During this market exploration period, discerning people can see that the Chinchilla industry has a bright future. These people discovered a vast potential market for chinchilla fur. They formed an organization to create a market for Chinchilla fur. At present, it is estimated that there are about one million chinchillas in the world, and the largest number of them is the United States, followed by Canada, Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Chile, Uruguay and other countries.

Mr. Chapman and Totoro

Those of us who love or own pets should thank Mr. MF Chapman for bringing us Here comes these gentle little creatures that give us joy. Almost every chinchilla alive today is a descendant of the chinchilla population that Mr. MF Chapman originally domesticated. This story is about this chinchilla tamer.

Chinchillas were originally distributed in the Andes Mountains of South America, and their existence was unknown to the outside world until the Spanish colonists conquered the Chinca Indians in the 1500s. Later, the chinchilla's fur was shipped to Europe as a gift to the nobles. From the 1700s chinchilla fur became popular in Europe, and from the 1800s, hunters began planning large-scale capture of surviving chinchilla populations. In 1899, Richard Glick from Leipzig, Germany, known as the "King of Chinchillas", processed 78,500 chinchilla pelts, and then processed more than 300,000 chinchilla pelts between 1900 and 1901. In total, it is estimated that over 1,000,000 chinchillas were killed during this period and their pelts were shipped to Europe. Finally, when chinchillas were nearly extinct, the governments of some South American countries passed certain laws that made it illegal to capture and kill chinchillas.

In 1918, Matthias F. Chapman was a mining engineer working at the Anaconda copper mine in Chile. One day, a native Chilean Indian came to Chapman's camp to sell a chinchilla that he had caught and put in a tin. Chapman bought the chinchilla and became increasingly interested in the little creature. From his experience living with this chinchilla, he came up with a plan to get more chinchillas and ship them to America. At first he thought chinchillas could be domesticated as pets, and then he began to consider supplying the domesticated chinchillas to the fur market. In 1919, Mr. Chapman started a capture program, which he planned to capture as many chinchillas as possible to establish a breeding population.

There are several different species of chinchillas living in the Andes. The relatively small Costina species are found at lower elevations, while the larger Lanigera species are found at higher altitudes. Chapman's home is in Potrerillos, Chile, at 10,400 feet above sea level, which is thought to be at the junction of the smaller Costina chinchillas and the larger Lanigera chinchillas that live at lower elevations. Because the vast majority of the chinchillas living at low altitudes were all captured when Chapmander began his chinchilla-collecting campaign, it is generally believed that most of the chinchillas Chapman captured were of smaller size. Large Lanigera chinchilla.

Character:

Dragon is very docile, lively, likes to jump around, active, curious, and is always the first to learn about new things Sniff and bite again to study, chinchillas belong to plateau animals and are not easy to get sick; chinchillas are very clean and have no parasites. Chinchillas can bathe themselves with sand and can spend the weekend by themselves without worrying about care; chinchillas are mono-vegetarian animals, so their feces are oval, dry and granular, and have no smell, so there is no problem keeping them indoors. Chinchillas have soft fur and do not shed as much as dogs and cats. If you want to raise chinchillas, it is recommended to start feeding the kittens after weaning at 2-3 months of age, so that chinchillas are most likely to reach tacit understanding and closeness with their owners. But even if you start raising adult chinchillas in the middle, chinchillas can gradually respond to the owner's care wisely. Chinchillas do not only recognize and listen to one master all their lives, but they often "select" a person who is the closest and most dependent among their caring masters.

Chinchillas are peaceful and docile babies with an average life span of 15-20 years. It does not have any active aggression, and when encountering an enemy, it just runs away or urinates at the enemy. When he trusts you, he will be happy to play with you, lively, active like a child, and likes to jump around. He is naturally timid and lovable, and will hide for the first time if there is any trouble. Each chinchilla has its own personality, cute, naughty, reserved or pampered, but the one thing in common is that she needs you to love her, pay attention to her, protect her, don't try to use corporal punishment to educate your chinchilla, then It will cause him to be rebellious to the master, and instead make him distrust you and turn a blind eye.

Standards and prices

In biology, dragons are a distinct breed of chinchilladale.

Chinchilladale is divided into the following categories:

1) Short-tailed chinchilla (Chinchillachinchillaboliviana) - the wild is almost extinct.

2) Kingchinchilla - a giant chinchilla with a length of 40cm, also known as realchinchilla, which became extinct hundreds of years ago. The only surviving specimen is now in the Senckenberg Museum in Germany.

3) Long-tailed chinchillas (Chinchilla Lanigera) - used for furs and pets; most of the artificially bred chinchillas belong to this category, and the wild ones are almost extinct. All wild chinchilla native to South America are protected animals, and those that can be legally imported are artificially bred by foreigners.

Characteristics

The South American cat is very similar in appearance to a rabbit, with a small and fat body, a head like a rabbit, and a tail like a squirrel. An adult chinchilla weighs about 430-700 grams and has a tail length of 10-14 cm. Newborn pups weigh about 50 grams. Chinchillas have large, bright eyes, many whiskers of different lengths on the side of the nose, and are sensitive to touch. The ears are large, thin, and bluntly rounded. The forelimbs are short with five toes, and the hind limbs are strong with four toes and are good at jumping. The chinchillas have grey-black hair on the back and sides (and some other bred colors), fading to white on the belly, and evenly distributed body hair. Chinchillas have the densest fur in the world, with 40 to 60 down hairs per pore, and as many as 80 in the United States, which has the best provenance (cats and dogs only have 1 to 3 hairs per pore), but so The soft, thick fur also gave chinchillas a near-extinction nightmare.

Colors:

Standard grey - body grey, belly white, greyish-white black hair, while grey body, with shades of dark grey and light grey

beige/ Apricot - beige all over, pink ears, brown or red eyes

Gold/Champagne - white base with golden fur evenly distributed over body, pink ears, red eyes

velvet black - black face and body, white belly, particularly black and shiny coat

velvet brown-like velvet black, but replaced by brown, brown face and body, white Belly, pink ears, red eyes

Silver white-white background, with gray hair evenly distributed throughout the body, commonly known as "silver chinchillas"

Silver spots-white background, with obvious gray The markings create a beautiful pattern on the face

Gold markings - white base with beige markings, pink ears, red eyes

All black/Bearman black - all black with grey accents Hair

Pure Black-The whole body is black, without any stray hair, the hair is particularly black and shiny

Pink White-The whole body is beige, with red eyes, pink ears

Red Eye White - Full White, Red Eyes, Pink Ears

Pure White - Full Body White, Black Eyes, Smoke Grey Ears

Pure Brown - Full Body Brownish brown, eyes black or reddish brown

Purple-grey-gray body with purple, white belly

grey-blue-gray body with blue body, white belly, pink ears

Brown/purple brown-lighter coat, pink ears, red eyes

Price of Chinchilla

Chinchilla from standard Gray to brown prices range from 500-8000 yuan.

Precautions for selection

1. Healthy Dragon Standard

1. Lively, active, flexible and smooth in running and jumping, without shaking when walking. (Such chinchillas are basically healthy.)

2. Body capillary, dense, uniform, no exposed skin or dandruff after blowing, thin tail hair, no missing hair or dandruff . (Chinchillas that lack hair may have fungus or biting.)

3. Active, but not exaggerated. After normal play, they can stop. No biting, manic, crazy jumping, hitting the cage. (It is normal for fragrant chinchillas to sleep well during the day, and for timid cats to panic and jump for a short time after approaching strangers, to make noises, and even to be afraid of losing hair.)

4. There is no smear around the eyes of chinchillas, no redness and swelling. (There are many yellow-green eye stains, or cats with red and swollen eyes, and the eyes are inflamed.)

5. The anus is clean, without loose stools or dirt. Normal chinchilla feces should be hard, oval about half a centimeter long, dark green or dark brown. (Cats with soft stools, loose stools, and dirty anus have digestive diseases.)

6. No damage to the whole body, blood stains, upturned tail, symmetrical limbs without deformity, and can eat normally with open mouth. (Such a chinchilla must have no fractures or trauma.)

7. Be able to defecate and urinate normally, without frequent urination and urination at any time. (Congenital frequent urination, male chinchillas who cannot urinate smoothly may not be fertile.)

8. The two incisors are the same length, yellow, and can be covered by lips, without showing teeth and salivation. (The teeth are too long, white, salivating chinchillas cannot eat and may have gingivitis. Totoro with broken teeth but still roots, there is no major problem after the teeth grow. )

2. Criteria for good appearance of Chinchillas

1. The face is short and round; the eyes are wide apart, the eyes are large, and the eye sockets are deep; the beard is arched.

2. The body is round, the body hair is thick, fluffy, bright, the tail hair is neat, and the roots are vertical.

3. Fingers, ears, and hair are intact, and the tail is long.

3. Good-tempered chinchilla standards

1. Cheerful personality: When meeting strangers, don't make noise, bark, run around, and don't lose hair.

2. Gentle personality: hold it on your body, don't spray people with urine, don't bite people hard.