Emma Jones
The chinchillas in our cages today are a hybrid of short-tailed and long-tailed chinchillas. This breeding resulted in a lot of color variations.
The genus chinchilla is narrowly divided into two species: short-tailed chinchillas and long-tailed chinchillas. Short-tailed chinchillas were classified into king chinchillas and small short-tailed chinchillas. However, the king chinchilla is now completely extinct, and the small short-tailed chinchilla is also very rare nowadays. The long-tailed chinchilla is also almost completely extinct in the wild but is still kept by humans. The chinchillas, which are mostly kept as pets today, are a hybrid of small short-tailed chinchillas and long-tailed chinchillas. Although they are more like the latter. The original color of the small rodents is wild, inbreeding is called “standard”. Breeding, however, resulted in many other color variations. The basic colors are presented here.
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Chinchillas of this color have light to dark gray fur that gets lighter on the belly and sides. The hairline is white, the tail is dark to black, and the ears are gray. The eyes are black.
White
White was the first color mutation to appear in chinchillas. The American Wilson bred the first white chinchilla in 1955, which is why this color is also called Wilson White. The fur of these chinchillas is solid white, the ears are grayish, and the eyes are black. The color category white also includes the colors platinum, silver, ebony white, and pink white.
Beige
The fur of these chinchillas comes in various shades of beige and can be piebald or solid. The fur is lighter to white on the sides, belly, and hairline. The ears are always pink in color and the eyes vary from dark to light red. All beige color variations are also available in “Ebony”, then the stomach, hairline, and sides are not lighter but have the same color as the fur on the back.
Sapphire
The fur on the head, back, belly and tail are blue-grey and the belly is white. Chinchillas of this color have black or dark blue eyes and pink ears with a slight blue tinge.
Violet
This color is divided into Afro Violet and German Violet. Afro violet chinchillas have purplish-gray fur on the head, back, and sides. The belly is bright white. The eyes are black and the ears are gray with a purple tinge. The variant Deutsch Violett is very similar but has a brownish cast.
Charcoal
Charcol chinchillas have an entirely gray to black coat, sometimes with a brownish tinge. Variants of this color include Pastel Charcoal, Sapphire Charcoal, and Violet Charcoal.
Ebony
Again, there are different variants. Animals of the “Homo Ebony” variant have an all-black coat, black eyes, and gray ears. In the “Hetero Ebony” color, the sides and head are gray and the chinchillas have a black blaze. With “Brown Ebony” the animals are completely brown, the eyes are red and the ears are pink. There are also the variants “Pastel Ebony”, “Sapphire Ebony”, and “Purple Ebony”.
Velvet
There is also a “Velvet” variant of almost all the colors already mentioned. “Black Velvet” and “Brown Velvet” are just two examples. Animals in velvet colors have a particularly velvety and shiny coat.