Latin name: Chinchilla lanigera

A Skilled Climber!

• Its main characteristics are a silky hair, big round eyes, long 11 cm vibrissae and a curved bristly tail. 

• These are up to 60 hairs from a single hair follicle; it is this density that makes its fur so soft. In case of an attack, its hairs detach easily between the predator's claws allowing it to escape quickly.  

• It can leap 50 cm high or sideways. It can climb nine meters up rock faces with such speed that it is difficult to visually follow it. 

• In order to take a bath, it rolls around in sand or rocky soil. Without this regular maintenance, its pelt would become greasy, sticky and matted.

• Because of the destruction of its habitat and abusive hunting for its fur, the scientific community believes that the wild chinchilla population is too small to be viable.