Long-tailed chinchilla

Amazing fact

A chinchilla has dark orange teeth.

Smithsonian National Zoo

Long-tailed chinchilla in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

A chinchilla has dark orange teeth.

SourceSmithsonian National Zoo — Long-tailed chinchilla

THE REAL WORLD

The real Long-tailed chinchilla

Scientific name: Chinchilla lanigera
Japanese name: チンチラ
Group: Land mammals

Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Chinchillidae
Genus: Chinchilla

Facts about the real animal.

Chinchillas that were domesticated for their fur are now also commonly kept as pets.

It lives among the high, rocky mountains of the Andes in northern Chile, South America.

智光山公園 — チンチラ長崎バイオパーク — チンチラ

Its fur is very dense and soft, with many hairs growing together from the same follicle.

University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Chinchilla lanigera

It eats grasses and seeds, sitting upright and holding its food in its front paws.

長崎バイオパーク — チンチラ University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Chinchilla lanigera

How the Long-tailed chinchilla lives

It is mainly active at night, with peaks of activity at dusk and dawn. It may also eat insects and bird eggs when it finds them. It makes its den in crevices and holes among rocks. It lives in colonies.

University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web Smithsonian National Zoo

Basic data

Size: Body length: 25–30 cm長崎バイオパーク
Weight: 0.5–0.8 kgUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
Diet: Grasses and their seeds長崎バイオパーク
Range: Andes Mountains of northern Chile長崎バイオパーク

Where the Long-tailed chinchilla has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesCentral and South America Mountains

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

日本語: チンチラ

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

智光山公園 — チンチラChecked: 2026-11-03
長崎バイオパーク — チンチラChecked: 2026-11-03
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Chinchilla lanigeraChecked: 2026-11-03
Smithsonian National Zoo — Long-tailed chinchillaChecked: 2026-11-06

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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