Chinchilla

High mountainous regions of the Andes and South America.

Chinchillas are rodents that live in high mountainous areas and have dense, fine fur. Their skin has more than 25,000 hairs per square centimeter, and 60–70 fine hairs develop from each follicle. Due to the high density of their hair and the strength of the undercoat, external parasites such as fleas and ticks are not found. Although chinchillas are active at night, they can move easily in the dark thanks to their high reaction speed and developed sense organs. The vertical compression of their skeletons allows them to pass through narrow gaps between rocks. They wear down their teeth, which grow throughout their lives, by gnawing on hard vegetation, allowing their teeth to shorten naturally. When chinchillas take a sand or volcanic ash bath for cleaning purposes, special curtains on their ear flaps close the ears and prevent sand from entering.