Chinchilla

The first Chinchillas were exhibited its France in 1913 by one J. J. Dybowski, who claimed that they were produced by crosses of wild rabbits with Blue Beverens and Himalayans.As the color of the Chinchilla is due to a mutation, however,in which the yellow of the wild Agouti pattern is suppressed,Its place being taken by pearl, M. Dybowski's claim is open to considerable doubt. Nevertheless most of the importations into this country were from him, the first arriving in 1919.The original strains of the Chinchilla were very impure,and produced the Sable breeds, both Marten and Siamese. A number of other breeds were used in efforts to improve the Chinchilla, and this gave rise both to undesirable recessives which still appear, such as " woollies " (resulting from the use of Angoras to improve coat) and to further breeds. For example, by using the Black Tan to improve ticking, the Silver Fox was produced.

Even the discarded exhibits we reused in some cases, for the Chi fox, a breed with a coat of 21inches or more in length was produced frosts the woollies from the Chinchilla, and although this breed achieved some success,it eventually lost its popularity, and is now no longer to be seen.The Chinchilla, as a fur breed for the production of pets has seen several booms. At one time, the early pelt of the rabbit at a month old fetched good prices, and during the1920's many relatively large fur producers specialized with this breed. In co lour the Chinchilla closely resembles ethereal Chinchilla Lanier, the pelts of which are the most expensive in the world. It is not surprising therefore that the pelts of the Chinchilla rabbit, which arc impossible to imitate with(lye's, usually fetch a better price than other normal fur breed skins.

The Chinchilla has a further advantage from a pelting point of view in that the intermediate coat, taken when the rabbit is from four to five months of age, is of value, whereas this is not the case with other breeds. The Chinchilla is also one of the most, if not the most popular of exhibition breeds.The breed weighs between 51 and 61 lb. and has excellent meat qualities.