Chinchillas For Kids

Posted by Andrew Davidson on

Chinchillas For Kids-Amazing Animal Books-For Young Readers

https://lbugbooks.com/products/chinchillas-for-kids-amazing-animal-books-for-young-readers

Introduction

Chinchillas are fun, cute, and highly unique animals. Most people can
claim that they have heard of a chinchilla, but very few know what they
look like, or know much about them. This is because chinchillas are
not native to a very unique part of the world, meaning they live in only
one small area of the world.
Chinchillas were discovered in the 1500s by Spanish explorers that
came to South America. Even though they were discovered in the
1500s, it wasn't until the 1900s that people came to know more about
chinchilla. Today, chinchillas can be kept as pets, and because of their
cute and cuddly appearance, and their unique and quirky personalities,
people all over the world have fallen in love with them.

This book will talk about what chinchillas are, where they live and how
they live, what they eat, and why these little furry critters are so lovably
unique.

What is a Chinchilla?

Chinchillas are very cute and unique animals that are part of the rodent
family. This means they are similar to other animals that are also
rodents. Some other rodents you may know are mice, rats, and
squirrels. However, chinchillas aren't as common to most people as
rats and mice are. This is because Chinchillas come from the Andes
mountains in Chile, found on the continent of South America. In Chile,
this area is called “Cordillera de Los Andes.” Chinchillas are such
special animals in the area, they were even named after a native Indian
tribe meaning “Little Chinta.”

There are two different types of chinchillas. One type is called
“Chinchilla lanigera,” and the other type is called “Chinchilla
brevicaudata.” These two types of chinchillas are both very similar, but
you can tell the difference between them by looking at their ears and
tail. Chinchilla brevicaudata has a shorter tail than the Chinchilla
lanigera. It also have shorter eats, and usually has thicker looking
shoulders and a thicker looking neck.

Chinchillas are nocturnal animals, which means they sleep during the
day and wake up at night. Because of this, chinchillas are very good in
the dark. They do most of their foraging (looking for food), eating, and
playing when it is dark outside.

Chinchillas are also very curious animals. They like to explore and
investigate the area they are in. They are also very social, which means
that they like to play with other chinchillas, and that they greatly enjoy
having the company of another chinchilla. Chinchillas are very rarely
angry or aggressive to each other, or to other animals. Chinchillas are
mean only when they are angry, or when they feel that they are in
danger.

What a Chinchilla Looks Like


Chinchillas look very much like a mouse, but with larger ears, a long
bushy tail (similar to a squirrel), and long back feet. These long back
feet are both interesting and meaningful for the chinchilla because they
are very strong. Because of them, a chinchilla can run very quickly,
and can jump about 5 feet above their own height. This makes it easier
for them to navigate the rocky Andes mountains, and to escape fast
moving hunters.
A chinchilla's body can be anywhere from 9 inches to 12 inches in
length, and they weigh between 1 and 2 pounds. The average weight of
a newborn baby is between 6 and 8 pounds, so a baby chinchilla is very

small, even when it is full grown! Imagine a small rodent that is bigger
than a mouse, but smaller than a squirrel. Right in between is where
you'll find the chinchilla. One interesting fact about chinchillas is that
the female chinchilla is usually larger than the male chinchilla.
Chinchillas are covered with a thick layer of fur all over their body,
except for the feet and ears, which have only short fur on them. This
fur is very thick because each hair follicle (the hole in the skin that hair
grows out of) has about 85 to 100 different hairs that grow from it.
This makes a chinchilla's fur coat very full and very beautiful. In fact,
if you touch a chinchilla, your hand sinks into it because it is so thick
and full. Additionally, the chinchillas fur is very soft. Chinchillas are
thought to have the softest fur of any animal on the planet. Like other
animals, chinchillas are born with different fur colors. The most
common fur color for a Chinchilla is grey with small bits of black and
white mixed into the fur. Other colors that chinchillas can be found in
are white, black, violet, and beige. In addition to the chinchillas fur
being beautiful and soft, its thickness also helps the chinchilla to stay
happy and healthy. There are many bugs in the mountains, such as
fleas, and the thickness and fullness of their fur keeps these fleas away.
And, because fleas can carry many different types of diseases, this also
keeps the chinchilla from getting sick with these diseases.
A chinchillas eyes can either be black, or a rosy red color. Black is the
most common eye color, and is found on chinchillas of all colors. The
rosy red eye color is most commonly found on white chinchillas.

Aside from their larger circular ears and long bushy tails, another
unique aspect of the chinchilla is its tiny hands. Chinchillas, like
monkeys have the ability to grab their food with their tiny two front
hands. Because of this, chinchillas most often eat while sitting up,
being supported by their long back feet and long tail, and holding their
food in one or both hands, taking bites at each piece. Although the
chinchilla is a rodent, this eating style looks very much like how a
human eats.
Another interesting feature of a chinchilla is its teeth. One thing that
helps to put chinchillas into the rodent family is its teeth, actually. Like
other rodents, a chinchillas teeth are always growing. This means that
their teeth will grow throughout their life. You would think their teeth
would grow right out of their mouths! However, chinchillas work on
keeping their teeth short on a daily basis, and the do this by chewing on
different objects found in their surrounding. This may be a mineral
rock, wood from a shrub, or on a seed found on the ground. The best
objects for keeping the teeth in shape and down to a shorter size are
harder objects. Chinchillas are partial to chewing on wood and mineral
rocks.

Habitat

“Habitat” means the place where a living thing makes its home, and the
area around that home. Because chinchillas live in the mountains, they
make their homes in holes and cracks in the rocky surface, or by
making a burrow (or hole) in the ground beneath the rocks. This
habitat helps to make the chinchilla feel comfortable and cool during
the hot days, and also keeps them safe from other animals that hunt
them. Animals that hunt chinchillas are birds of prey (like hawks and
eagles), wild cats, snakes, skunks, and wild dogs. Although snakes and
skunks can make their way into the chinchillas home, the other animals
cannot, so the chinchilla is much safer in its hidden home than outside
in the open.

The chinchilla's rocky home also helps them to stay cool, and this is
very important to the little chinchilla. Because the chinchilla has such a
thick coat, they can get very hot very easily. If a chinchilla gets too
hot, they can suffer from heat stroke, a sickness caused by being too
hot. For a chinchilla, heat stroke can mean death. This is especially
true because unlike humans, chinchillas cannot sweat to help to cool
down their bodies. Instead, they burrow into the cool ground or inside
the cracks in the rocky surface of their mountain habitat to stay cool
during the day. This is also way chinchillas are nocturnal, because it is
cooler at night and there is less of a chance that the chinchilla will get
too hot and get heat stroke.

That being said, the chinchilla's thick fur coat is also meant to keep
them warm in the mountains where cooler temperatures are normal.
Heat stroke is a definite problem for chinchillas, but so is freezing
during the coldest parts of the year. The Andes mountains can get very
cold, and the thick fur that a chinchilla has helps to keep them very
warm. Their home in the rocks and in holes in the ground also help to
keep them warm in the winter.
The Andes mountains are very tall, and chinchillas can be found
between 3,000 and 15,000 feet high up in the mountains. The
mountains they live in face the Pacific Ocean, which is the same ocean found on the West Coast of the United States (along California,
Oregon, and Washington). The climate (or weather) of the Andes
mountains is often windy, and cold. Although, the chinchillas thick
coat makes this weather feel normal for them, and it is still necessary to
avoid the sun. which can make a chinchilla feel too hot. Additionally,
the rocky surface of the Andes mountains have very little plant life.
Common plants in the area are cactus, some types of grass, and shrubs.
One thing that makes these mountains unique, however, is that the rock
and ground in the area is covered with a layer of volcanic ash. This ash
is very important for chinchillas because they use it to clean their fur.
Unlike other animals that clean their fur using their tongues, or like
humans who bathe in water, chinchillas bathe in volcanic ash. The ash
pulls the oils from the chinchillas fur without the need for the chinchilla
to get wet. In fact, it is important that chinchillas stay away from water
because they can become sick very easily when their fur and skin
becomes wet. Some illnesses that can be caused by wet fur and skin
are hypothermia (sickness of being too cold), ringworm, and other
fungal growth on the skin.

This happens because the chinchilla's thick fur is used as an insulator
against the cold. But because the fur is so thick, it can take a very long
time to dry, and the skin may not dry entirely. Staying wet for too long
attracts bacteria and fungi to the area, and this can cause the chinchilla
to become sick. The cool upside to having such a lush fur coat is that
the chinchilla, unlike its rodent relatives (rats and mice) doesn't have a

problem with fleas. The thick coat actually acts as a deterrent to fleas
because it does not make a good home for fleas to live in.
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