Mammals
Short-tailed Chinchilla
Chinchilla chinchilla
Once spread across the high Andes of four countries, the short-tailed chinchilla was hunted so intensively for its fur that it now survives in only a handful of remote Chilean sites, bulkier and shorter-tailed than the species most people picture when they hear the name chinchilla.
Overview
The short-tailed chinchilla, Chinchilla chinchilla, is a Critically Endangered rodent of the high Andes, historically ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 metres across Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. Bulkier and thicker-necked than its better-known relative the long-tailed chinchilla, it shares the same extraordinarily dense, insulating fur that made both species a prime target of the historic fur trade.
A steeper decline than its relative
Even more heavily hunted than the long-tailed chinchilla during the fur boom of the 1800s and early 1900s, the short-tailed chinchilla’s population collapsed across nearly its entire historic range, leaving only a handful of remnant colonies.
Status
Critically Endangered, confined today to a few remote high-Andean sites in northern Chile. Unlike its relative, it was never widely established in captivity, leaving its survival almost entirely dependent on the protection of its remaining wild colonies.
Short-tailed Chinchilla: common questions
How is the short-tailed chinchilla different from the more familiar chinchilla?
It is bulkier, with a shorter tail, thicker neck and shoulders, and denser fur than the long-tailed chinchilla most people know as a pet, and historically ranged across a wider stretch of the high Andes.
Why is the short-tailed chinchilla Critically Endangered?
Intensive hunting for its extraordinarily dense fur during the 1800s and early 1900s collapsed its population even more severely than the long-tailed chinchilla's, and its historic range across Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina has almost entirely disappeared.
Where does the short-tailed chinchilla live today?
It survives only in a handful of remote, high-altitude sites in northern Chile, far smaller than its historic range across the central Andes.
Are short-tailed chinchillas kept as pets?
No. Nearly all pet and fur-farm chinchillas today descend from the long-tailed chinchilla; the short-tailed chinchilla was never successfully established in captivity on a comparable scale and remains an almost purely wild species.