Chinchillas have a history older than man. Millions of years ago, when the Andes Mountains of South America were covered with lush, tropical foliage, the timid chinchilla was playing "hide and seek" with prehistoric creatures than roamed the earth.
    Over the centuries the climate of the mountain region changed. The tropical foliage disappeared and gave way to bleak ice and rock. The chinchilla, in a miracle of survival, adapted itself to the new environment.
    About 900 A.D., the hardy chinchillas were discovered by a tribe of Native Americans called Chinchas. These people found the inviting warmth and durability of the fur to be the answer to the rigors of their cold mountain climate.
    In the nineteenth century, chinchilla fur became the most popular fur of the European Royalty. The demand for pelts was so great that the animals were hunted with a zeal no less fierce than that which men fought for gold in the roaring 80's. In 1899 alone, some 440,000 pelts were exported from Chile. The animals were further decimated by foxes, which had been imported to South America for hunting purposes.
    By 1914 the problem had become so serious that the Chilean government imposed a ban on trapping and exporting chinchillas, in an attempt to prevent the animal from becoming extinct. Some six years later, however, an American mining engineer named Mathias Chapman received special authorization from the Chilean government to trap a limited number of the animals. Leading an expedition into the Andes Mountains, he succeeded in trapping 11 chinchillas, and these were taken alive to California. From this small beginning-- one that probably saved the animals from total extinction-- the modern chinchilla industry had it's beginning.
    What is this animal with such a strange history, and why did it compel men to track it down as they did precious stones and minerals? The answer lies in the rare beauty of the fur. The standard gray chinchilla has three distinctive shades. The fur next to the skin is a band of deep slate blue, followed by a marvelous range of tones from blue-gray to snowy white. The surface of the fur is a veil of cool, icy blue. Chinchillas also appear in beige, varying shades of black, ebony, sapphire, and on rare occasions, white. Because each single hair divides in to as many as 70-80 strands as it leaves the skin, the fur has a uniquely dense, soft quality. The unique qualities plus the gentleness of the chinchilla has earned it the reputation of being one of the most beautiful animals in the world.