Chinchilla Fur
Facts About Chinchilla Fur
Chinchillas make adorable pets, but it is chinchilla fur which gives them their claim to fame. The chinchilla is native to the Andes region of South America. Their fur has been used for clothing for nearly 500 years, starting with the Chincha people, the tribe from which the Chinchilla got its name. The Chichas were conquered by the Incas, who began to use chinchilla fur for their royal robes. Real problems began after the Spaniards conquered the Incas. The Spanish were more interested in gold than in fur coats. Unfortunately, for the chinchilla, a chest of gold and silver sent to the Spanish queen was wrapped in a robe made of chinchilla fur pelts. And that is how the trouble began, as chinchilla fur immediately came into demand across the Atlantic.
Why is chinchilla fur so popular, and so special? Most rodents, and the chinchilla is one, grow a single hair from each hair follicle. In fact that is true for most animals. The chinchilla grows more than one hair from each follicle. It grows 80 or more. The fur is typically 1" long, or slightly less and, as described by some, "is as fine as a spider's web". Each hair has three bands of color, making it almost impossible to fake. The color of the hair is a deep slate gray from the skin outward to about half its length. Then there is a 1/8" band of white, followed by a dark outer tip. A chinchilla pelt literally shimmers with this unique combination of colors.
At one time, chinchilla coats were every bit as expensive as sable. Sable was expensive as it could not be grown commercially, and had to be trapped in the wild. It would take a long time to gather enough sable pelts to make a coat. The same was true with the chinchilla, and the animal was hunted nearly to extinction. The chinchilla fur trade caused the extinction of one of the three species of chinchilla, and the near extinction of a second. Eventually the export of chinchilla pelts was prohibited, but much damage to the species had been done. Fortunately, efforts were made, with some difficulty, to domesticate the animal, and in 1923 eleven chinchillas arrived in the United States, laying the foundation for what now is a rather substantial industry.
Although, through domestication, chinchilla fur pelts are easier to come by today, a chinchilla fur coat is still an expensive item to add to the wardrobe, usually costing between $15,000 and $45,000. You can buy a coat made of chinchilla faux fur for around $200 but, as one fur expert put it, "you can spot the difference from 100 yards away".
Fur farms have not always done a good job of treating animals well when raising them for their pelts. Animal rights activists and other groups have made some significant gains in improving the treatment of animals or, in some cases, shutting down segments of the fur industry altogether. It could be that the best way to truly appreciate the beautiful and exotic fur of the chinchilla is to get one as a pet, or find a petting zoo where you can touch one.