Black chinchillas: what breeds are there and what are their features?

Today, the chinchilla as a pet firmly occupies one of the leading places in our country, although quite recently this animal was of interest to humans exclusively as a source of very beautiful skin, which gives light and warm fur. However, it has not lost this value even today - the quality characteristics of fur continue to be studied and are trying to improve.

Chinchilla color is not only the color of the coat, but also a combination of 3 factors at once:

• pigmentation;
• colors;
• structure of wool.

Each factor is characterized by its own genome, as well as the possible different variations that occur when different breeds are crossed. Moreover, chinchillas can be both multi-colored and equally colored. As a result of this process, animals with interesting color schemes are obtained, including a fur coat that neither one nor the other parent had.

The result is only 3 colors:

• black;
• Brown;
• ginger.

If the color is absent, the skin turns out to be white. Any other color is already a combination of the above. Color is:

• standard;
• beige;
• silvery mosaic;
• white mosaic;
• white and pink;
• black velvety;
• brown velvety;
• homoebony;
• heteroebony;
• purple (black pearl is a variant of it);
• white ebony;
• sapphire.

In total, there are more than two dozen shades.

They appeared in the middle of the twentieth century. The first animal came from parents with an ordinary color and named it the Dirty Pug, which, along with other animals, ended up in the possession of a US farmer by the name of Gunning a year later, who had been breeding these animals for more than ten years at that time and was considered one of the best chinchilla specialists in the world. He began to actively develop such an unusual mutation of the Dirty Pug, and as a result, her offspring began to have a small black muzzle mask, and then a black mantle began to appear.

Subsequently, by crossing, Gunning achieved a black color on the neck and back, and after a couple of years the Black Velvet chinchilla began to look the same as it does today.

The genetic feature of this color is the presence in the genetic set of the so-called lethal gene, which does not allow such animals to be crossed - they die in 100% of cases. For this reason, chinchillas of this color are intensively crossed with their motley counterparts (except for velvet ones) in order to improve the saturation of the shades.

Differs from other breeds:

• hump on the nose;
• a clear mask on the face;
• gloves made of stripes running diagonally on each foot;
• fur of a rich black shade;
• lack of light areas of fur near the eyes, any markings;
• uniformity of black pigment on the ridge and sides;
• clear low abdominal line;
• round muzzle;
• dense bone.

These are animals with fur, the color of which is considered one of the rarest and most spectacular shades. The cost of such a chinchilla can be over a thousand dollars. The absence of streaks, veils or blotches of other shades is especially appreciated. The eyes and ears are black.

They are also quite rare and have a high cost.

Fur of this color can be subdivided:

• to light (based on white or shades of beige, combined with gray, brown, or black);
• medium light (cream or light brown shades, gray or brown blotches are allowed);
• medium (combined dark gray and white);
• dark (black tint combined with gray).

This shade is also called "agouti". Animals of this color originally met and still live in the wild only with this single color of fur. The shades of the palette range from ash to graphite colors. The backs of the "agouti" are dark, the fur of the sides is lighter, and the legs at the tips and abdomen are very light shades. The hair is blue-gray with black tips.

They were first brought out in 55 of the XX century.

They have a range of shades from light beige to dark. The backs are of a darker color in relation to the rest of the fur, the abdomen is almost white. The ears are pinkish-beige in color, have light pigment spots that resemble freckles. The color of the iris of the eye ranges from pink to dark ruby ​​shades.

Brown shades (from light to chocolate) prevail. On the sides, the color gradually becomes beige, turning into a completely white abdomen. The head is “dressed” in a dark mask; diagonal stripes are visible on the front and hind legs.

For information on what breeds of black chinchillas are and their features, see the next video.