Xiao Huang's New Friends - The Chinchilla

Xiao Huang recently just made 2 new Chinchilla friends. We name them Xiao Hei & Xiao Hui for the time being as we are not the owner. They will be under our care till end of the year when Jully's Sister, Tina, new place is ready. They have been here for a week or so & its really fun taking care of them. Think they will make great picture with my 50mm f1.8 Prime.

Observed their behavior for afew days & the sound they make caught my attention. Wonder if they are not used to or don't like what's going on in their new environment. Hope they will like their new home for the months ahead.

Chinchillas are crepuscular rodents, slightly larger and more robust than ground squirrels, and are native to the Andes mountains in South America. Along with their relatives, viscachas, they comprise the family Chinchillidae.

The animal whose name literally means "little Chincha" is named after the Chincha people of the Andes, who once wore its dense, velvet-like fur. By the end of the 19th century, chinchillas had become quite rare due to hunting for their fur. Most chinchillas currently used by the fur industry for clothing and other accessories are farm-raised.

The chinchilla is often used as an animal model in researching the auditory system, because the chinchilla's range of hearing (20 Hz to 30 kHz) and cochlear size is close to that of a human, and the chinchilla cochlea is fairly easy to access.