Chinchilla
The natural habitat of the Chinchilla is on the slopes of the Andes mountain range in
South America. Their name means "Little Chincha," named after the Chincha people of
the Andes, who wore its soft and dense fur. Chinchilla fur is considered the softest in the
world and they must regularly bathe in dust or volcanic ash to remove oil and moisture
that gathers in their thick fur. In fact, they have the highest fur density of any land animal
with more than 20,000 hairs per square cm. They were used in the fur trade since the
16th century. When the Spanish conquered the Incas in the 1500's, they discovered
Chinchillas and after touching their fur found them to be in high demand for their pelts.
By the 1920's, these animals were killed in their thousands to supply the fur trade.
Luckily, the Chilean government were concerned that the Chinchilla was going to
become extinct and outlawed the killing of these beautiful rodents and they became a
protected species, which thankfully prevented this animal from extinction.
