A Brief History of Chins
Where did chins come from? Well, the smart-ass answer is, "From their
mothers, of course!" In fact chinchillas have a long and distinguished
history. They are almost certainly decendants of pre-historic chin like
animals called "Megamys". Story has it that the progenitors and indeed
the chinchillas since then have not ventured outside the confines of the
area in which they were originally found. They were originally native to
some semi-arid areas of the Andes mountains in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile
and Peru. An area of approximately 12,000 square miles
Chinchilla history is vague up to the time when the Spaniards travelled to South America in 1524. In South America the Spaniards encountered a tribe of Indians called "Chinchas" who introduced them to the little furry animals. The Chinchas wore the pelts of the little guys and at the same time kept them as pets. The Spaniards named the little furry guys after the Indian tribe as "Chinchillas" - literally "Little Chinchas". They took pelts back with them to Europe and started the Chin fur business.
Unfortunately, all through recent history, the Chin's history has been tied to the fur business. In fact, around the turn of this century (1910 actually) the chinchillas were virtually trapped into extinction. Luckily, the governments of the countries involved banned the trapping of the animals and the sale of the pelts. Although, eventually raising chinchillas on ranches replaced trapping as a source of pelts for the fur market.
Chins in North America?
In February 1923 an American mining engineer, Mathias F. Chapman, brought the chins to North America. He was in charge of several mines in the Andes for Anaconda Mines near the town of Potrerillos in northern Chile when, like the Spaniards before him, he was introduced to the chinchilla. He took an immediate liking to the little guys and hoped that he could take a few of them home to California as pets. The export of chins was illegal, however, he eventually persuaded the authorities to permit him to take eleven chins with him back to the States. Eight male and three female Chinchilla Lanigeras. He brought them down from the mountains and arranged passage on a Japanese freighter. Chapman was worried that the heat they would encounter on the journey could kill the chins and asked the captain to permit him to keep the chins in his cabin. The captain refused. Nevertheless, Chapman smuggled them into his cabin, and when under way, he informed the captain that they are very valuable and that the line would be liable for their replacement. After that pronouncement the captain went along with Chapman's request. Even so, one of them perished from the heat and almost all of the others lost all their hair by the time they arrived in San Pedro. En route two baby chins were born, so that twelve of them came off the boat. With some effort, he nursed them back to health. And the story goes, (although this is almost certainly apocryphal) that all the chins in North America are descended from Chapman's.
The export permit he got to take them out of Chile.
The import acknowledgement he got in California.
Stuff About Chins
For those of you who are not familiar with chins, here are some chins facts:
- Chins are nocturnal;
- There are two major varieties:
- Chinchilla Brevicaudata
- a broad head;
- small blue ears;
- short tails;
- 128 day gestation period; and,
- larger than the lanigera.
- Chinchilla Langiera
- narrow head and shoulders;
- long ears;
- long tail; and,
- 111 day gestation period.
- Chinchilla Brevicaudata
- in the wild, they eat grasses and herbs;
- they are also reported to eat insects and bird eggs in the wild;
- curiosity is a well known trait in chins;
- females are generally larger than the males;
- females are usually dominant;
- in captivity, they eat their food a little at a time, not all at one go. Consequently you will see them come out periodically through the day to feed.