Serilla Chinchillas

Information on Chinchillas

There are several types of Chinchillas,  there is the Brevicaudata (short-tailed chinchilla) Areas where the Brevicaudata, includes the Andes, of southern Peru, Bolivia, northwestern Argentina, and northern Chile.    They are found in mountain shrubs and grassland areas at elevations between 3000 and 4500.  they live in dens in rocks crevices.     The Brevicaudata body length is 12-13 inches and the tail is about 5-6 inches.

Then there is the Lanigera, They are currently in the mountains of northern Chile.  They are found in the barren, arid areas of mountains at elevations of 3,000 to 5,000 meters.  They live in crevices and holes among the rocks.    Body length is about 9 to 13 inches, their tails can be 7 to 10 inches.

 Costina is smaller than the Lanigera, they are found in the lower elevations.

Most of our Chinchillas today are the Lanigera type.  As Mathias F. Chapman, was searching for the chinchillas, most of the Costina had already been trapped, and their fur used for coats, over 400,000 were trapped and killed for their fur, over period of a couple years, though they had been trapping chinchillas since the 1500's for it fur.     M.F. Chapman, Acquired only 11 Chinchillas, not knowing how many were Costina or Lanigera Type. Out of those 11 chinchillas, only 3 were females.   1919 is when M.F. Chapman started his hut for chinchillas, and by 1923 he  was able to bring them to the U.S.  They traveled by a coastal steamer, From Callao to San Pedro, California. During the trip one chinchilla had died and another had 2 babies.  Mr. Chapman had built the First Chinchilla ranch in the high desert area of Tehachapi, California.   It took many years of trial and error to get the right living conditions for the chinchillas to live and thrive and multiply.  One of the original  11 Chinchillas lived to be about 22 years old,  though his exact age is unknown since he was born in the wild

   South America,  Ande Mountains are along the west coastal side of the country,  where it is all tan is the mountains