Long-tailed Chinchilla
Chinchilla lanigera
Mammalia
ENDANGERED
Stats
- Lifespan
- 8-20 yrs
- Size
- Small
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Crepuscular
- Social
- Colony
- Biome
- Montane shrubland
- Range
- South America
- Movement
- Hopping
- Breeding
- Live Birth
- Defense
- Speed
- Status
- Endangered
About
A small, soft-furred Andean rodent endemic to Chile's coastal mountains, the long-tailed chinchilla has the densest fur of any land mammal — roughly fifty to eighty hairs sprout from each follicle, an adaptation that protects it from parasites and high-altitude cold.
Life cycle
- 1.newborn pupA blind, hairless pup nurses in the nest and is unable to regulate its own warmth.
- 2.juvenileA weaned juvenile is fully furred, leaves the nest, and begins foraging on solid food.
- 3.adultFully grown and self-sufficient.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Rodentia
- Family
- Chinchillidae
- Genus
- Chinchilla
- Species
- Chinchilla lanigera