Short-tailed chinchilla

Chinchillas are social creatures, normally living in colonies that may range from several to a hundred individuals, in groups called herds.

Short-tailed chinchillas have one mating partner and are considered monogamous. Due to females being slightly larger than males, female chinchillas often dominate males and will mate twice a year. The breeding season is November to May in the Northern Hemisphere. They have gestation periods lasting for 128 days.

Females may have up to two litters a year, but three is possible, but unusual. Litter size ranges from one to six offspring, called kits, with two being the average. Newborns chinchillas are capable of eating plant food and are weaned at 6 weeks old. Short-tailed chinchillas reach sexual maturity relatively quickly at an average age of 8 months, but it has been observed to occur at as young as 5.5 months with pet chinchillas or those in captivity. In the wild, short-tailed chinchillas typically have a lifespan of 8–10 years, as compared to in captivity, where they may survive for as long as 15–20 years.

An interesting behavior has been observed with females, with other lactating females sometimes feeding the young of others if they're unable to produce milk. Unlike many rodent species, father chinchillas also take on a caring and nurturing role, taking care of offspring when the mother is collecting food.

Fur slips can cause bald spots.

Although they're not usually aggressive, pet chinchillas can develop a nipping tendency if handled improperly. If nipped or bitten by a predator, chinchillas can release tufts of hair, in order to escape. This leaves the predator with a mouth full of fur and is called a "fur slip.” A fur slip happens when a chinchilla releases tufts of its hair to escape its predator. With pet chinchillas, fur slip occurs while owners are holding their pets tightly or if the chinchilla is stressed.

In order to communicate, short-tailed chinchillas vocalize and have specific calls. There are ten distinct sounds emitted by chinchillas and each varies based on the context of the situation. Chinchillas will make a whistle-like sound, growl, or chatter their teeth to warn and alarm others of danger. Short-tailed chinchillas have also been known to emit hiss-and-spit noises if provoked and a cooing sound while mating.[7]

Short-tailed chinchillas primarily live in self-dug burrows or crevices of rocky areas with shrubs and grasses nearby, usually mountainous grasslands. Typically, their habitat is has a sparse cover of thorny shrubs, cacti, and patches of succulents. Chinchillas live in arid climates at high altitudes with temperature dropping at night. Due to their environmental surroundings, chinchillas have adapted to expend less energy by having a low metabolic rate. Chinchillas are nocturnal creatures, often foraging for food at dusk and dawn.[9]

The arid grassland habitat of chinchillas.

Historically, short-tailed chinchillas lived in the Andes mountains and were native to Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. Although there has been speculation that chinchillas have become regionally extinct in Bolivia and Peru. In Bolivia, the chinchillas ranged from the La Paz, Oruro, and Potosi regions with the last wild specimens being captured by near Sabaya, and Caranga. However, a small population was recently discovered in Bolivia near the Laguna Colorada basin. Today, the only recorded sightings of short-tailed chinchillas has been in the Andes Mountains of northern Chile, where they remain endemic. In Chile, known chinchilla populations have been seen near the towns of El Laco, Morro Negro which are both near the Llullaillaco volcano in the Antofagasta region, as well as near the Nevado Tres Cruces National Park in the Atacama region.

Their range extends through the relatively barren areas of the Andes Mountains at an elevation of 9,800 to over 16,000 feet (3,000 to 5,000 meters).

The diet for chinchillas is heavily plant-based, mainly grasses and shrubs found on the sides of mountains. Short-tailed chinchillas are herbivores and mainly feed on high-fiber vegetation specifically foliage, leaves, shrubs, seeds, nuts, grasses, herbs, flowers, and grains. Short-tailed chinchillas also compete with other species for food, mainly grazers like goats and cattle. Sometimes, they will feed on insects as part of their diet. However, their diet changes with the season, depending on what is available, mainly the perennial Chilean needle-grass. Short-tailed chinchillas acquire their drinking water through morning dew or from the flesh of various plants such as cacti. While eating, the short-tailed chinchilla sits upright and grasps its food in its front feet. Chinchillas are prone to overeating when an excess of food is available, so pet owners must be careful not to overfeed. Chinchillas also gnaw on whatever they can find to file down their constantly growing teeth.

Chinchillas have natural predators in the wild, on the ground and in the sky. Birds, such as owls and hawks may swoop down and snatch chinchillas. On the ground, snakes, wild cats, and foxes hunt chinchillas as prey. In the three recognized populations, the Andean fox is the main predator. However, chinchillas are agile and can run up to 15 mph, so they can escape predators.

Short-tailed chinchillas are impacted by human activities such as mining and firewood extraction. Mining operations are a significant threat to chinchillas due to the destruction of their habitats. In Chile, gold fields have been discovered, but mining these areas would disrupt chinchilla populations.[10] One main critical threat to chinchillas is the burning and harvesting of the algarrobilla shrub, which is their natural habitat. Since chinchillas are so well-adapted to their environments, any long-term environmental change threatens the species' survival. While hunting the species for their pelts, fur traders used dynamite to destroy their burrows and force the chinchillas out, which killed many in the process.[4] The impact of these events has led to a 90% decrease in the short-tailed chinchilla population and caused them to go extinct in the three of the four countries where they were once found.

Chinchilla skins

Chinchilla pelts

Many chinchillas are hunted for their fur and meat, often being bred for the pet and fur trade. Chinchilla fur is very fine and dense. One of their hair follicles can hold 50 hairs, while humans have 1 hair per follicle. Chinchilla fur is highly luxurious and in demand in the fur industry. Commercial hunting began in 1829 and increased every year by about half a million skins, as fur and skin demand increased in the United States and Europe: “[t]he continuous and intense harvesting rate [...] was not sustainable and the number of chinchillas hunted declined until the resource was considered economically extinct by 1917."

Once the hunting started, demand for the chinchilla skins skyrocketed in the United States and Europe, causing an unsustainable decline for living chinchillas. The supply of chinchillas slowly diminished, with the last short-tailed chinchilla being seen in 1953, causing skin prices to increase drastically. Short-tailed chinchillas were especially sought-after due to their higher quality fur and larger size as compared to long-tailed chinchillas.[8]

A pet chinchilla

A domesticated short-tail chinchilla pet

Since short-tailed chinchillas are so rare, long-tailed chinchillas are more frequently kept as pets.[4] Still, the exotic pet trade has damaged the population of C.langiera due to the capture of wild populations, although most pets chinchillas are bred in captivity.[11]

In 1929, the first successful protection law prohibiting hunting chinchillas was passed in Chile, but weren't effectively enforced until the establishment in 1983 of the Reserva Nacional Las Chinchillas in Auco, Chile.[4] Because of an impending extinction of short-tailed chinchillas, conservation measures were implemented in the 1890s in Chile. However, these measures were unregulated. The 1910 treaty between Chile, Bolivia and Peru brought the first international efforts to ban the hunting and commercial harvesting of chinchillas. Unfortunately, this effort led to great price increases, which caused a further decline of the remaining populations.[5]

Today, short-tailed chinchillas are still considered Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Unfortunately, even with commercial hunting being illegal the last 100 years, C.chinchilla has not recovered or redistributed to their former areas of living. The populations that remain are small and isolated groups, which has caused reproductive isolation and led to inbreeding depression and low genetic diversity. This has caused a lower genetic fitness and further increased the species' risk of extinction.[13] However, several individuals from a wild population were transferred to a breeding program in order to increase genetic diversity for captive populations.[14]

Captive breeding

Certain groups such "Save the Wild Chinchillas" help to raise awareness on the current status of the short-tailed chinchillas. In order to save the species, more research and surveys need to be done to find the location of other populations. If these actions are not taken, short-tailed chinchillas risk extinction within a matter of years.

Short-tailed chinchillas in captivity are difficult to breed experimentally, which leads to high percentages of sterility. In captivity, there have been attempts to crossbreed long-tailed chinchillas and short-tailed chinchillas which have resulted in a few individuals.[13]