A chinchilla of dry rocky habitats in Chile, with dense soft fur and large ears. Rock crevices provide shelter.
Its coat is usually gray with a paler belly. The hind limbs are longer and better developed than the forelimbs.
Rainfall is reflected in the foods eaten by long-tailed chinchillas. At El Cuyano ravine in north-central Chile, feces from a wetter year contained more identifiable plant species than those from a drier year: 21 in 1992 and 11 in 1993. The menu of these rocky-habitat rodents differed between years.
Published in 2002, the study collected feces in all four seasons of both years, selecting 40 pellets for each seasonal analysis. Researchers compared plant fragments under a microscope with locally collected vegetation. Annual rainfall was 242 mm in 1992 and 123 mm the following year. Among identifiable foods, herbs were more prominent in the wet year, while shrubs ranked higher in the dry year. The number of plant species recorded around the site also changed from 38 to 27. The records showed changing dietary combinations in this dry environment.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Wild long-tailed chinchillas and their habitat are protected in Chile’s Las Chinchillas National Reserve. Its manager, CONAF, states that the 4,229-hectare reserve was established on 30 November 1983 and has an active conservation plan for the species. Within the reserve, chinchillas generally occupy the upper parts of north-facing hills, where rocky habitat and dryland vegetation form part of the protected landscape.