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The long-tailed chinchilla (''Chinchilla lanigera''), also called the Chilean, coastal, common chinchilla, or lesser chinchilla, is one of two species of rodents from the genus ''Chinchilla'', the other species being ''Chinchilla chinchilla''. Wild populations of ''C. lanigera'' occur in Aucó, near Illapel, IV Región, Chile (31°38’S, 71°06’W), in Reserva Nacional Las Chinchillas and in La Higuera, about north of Coquimbo (29°33’S, 71°04’W) Chilean chinchillas were reported from Talca (35°30’S), Chile, reaching north to Peru and eastward from Chilean coastal hills throughout low mountains. By the mid-19th century, Chilean chinchillas were not found south of the Choapa River. No fossils are known. == Characteristics == ''Chinchilla lanigera'' is smaller (wild animals have body lengths up to ), has more rounded ears, ( in length), and longer tails than ''Chinchilla chinchilla''; its tail is usually about a third the size of its body (up to compared to in ''C. chinchilla''). The number of caudal vertebrae is 23 in ''C. lanigera'', and 20 in ''C. chinchilla''). Average males weigh (mean: ) and females weigh (mean: ).〔 (PDF )〕 Domesticated animals are larger than wild ones and more sexually dimorphic, with the female weighing up to and males up to . The word ''lanigera'' translates into "bearing a woolen coat", yet chinchillas do not have a woolen coat, but instead one consisting of hair. Their hair is long, with gray, white, and black bands; it is silky, extremely soft, and firmly adhered to the skin.〔 Up to 75 hairs, in diameter, emerge together from a single hair follicle. Vibrissae (whiskers) are abundant, strong, long (), and emerge from single follicles. The general color of upper parts is bluish or silvery gray; the underparts are yellowish-white. The tail has long, coarse, gray and black hairs on its dorsal surface, long near the body, long near the tip, and form a bristly tuft that exceeds vertebrae by 〔 In the wild, they breed between October and December, which are the spring months in the Southern Hemisphere.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Long-tailed chinchilla」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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