The REAL wildlife around here...

Hey there! For all of you who don't know yet... (and how could you NOT ;-) we have chinchillas. We used to have 3, but Papa, the eldest, passed away this year at the age of 18. We were very lucky to have him that long and for him to be that healthy. The other two are Nino, who just turned 12 on the 7th, and Roo, who will be 8 at the end of this month.

We allow ours to have a supervised run every night, and got to thinking about how they are the "wildlife" we observe the most often. So I thought I'd post some info about our boys!

Most chinchillas anyone will ever see are somewhat domesticated. Wild chinchillas are very rare in the world now. They are found in high, arid regions in South America. The original cause of their steep decline was the fur trade. It can take up to 100 animals to make one coat. Since it took so many, the animals became more rare. As the animals became more rare, the value of the coats went up. It was a viscious cycle. I'm not passing judgement on those who wear fur, though I choose otherwise. Most furs worn today are from animals ranched on farms. However, there are still problems with that method. Although this site is strictly against fur farming, the descriptions in it are accurate to my knowledge. Warning: Some photos on this site are disturbing. The link in the title of this blog leads to more information about the conservation of wild chinchilla populations.

Now of course, much of the chinchilla's threats are due to human encroachment. There are considered to be two separate species, both of which are listed as CITES I (no trade allowed). One is considered critically endangered, and the other vulnerable by the IUCN. For more information on these organizations, I've included links to the right side of my blog.

Now on to the HAPPY stuff!! Photos of my boys!!

They do some really cute and silly things. You would never imagine a rodent with so much personality. Roo loves this little stuffed fleece kitty. He sleeps with it, grooms it, and even carries it around from shelf to shelf.

Nino (as in El Nino), loves to chew... anything. We have to watch him constantly. He also sleeps in a lot of really weird positions. We happened to catch one in his old cage.

Nino is adjusting now to having the cage all to himself, but we have lots of cute Papa memories too!

Papa chewing on a cardboard ring crunchy.

Taken at age 17... Still handsome! :)