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Why does the chinchilla have the thickest fur on Earth?

Feel your head. You have about 100,000 hairs on it. A lot? Now listen. A chinchilla has 20 million hairs on its body. This is the thickest fur of any mammal on our planet.

The secret is this: in humans, only one hair grows from one skin follicle. In dogs, only 3-4. And in chinchillas, each follicle produces as many as 50 hairs! Imagine: you run your finger along the back of a chinchilla, and under your palm is a real cloud of thousands of the most delicate hairs.

Why does it have such a "fur coat"? Chinchillas live in the Andes mountains in South America, at an altitude of 4-5 kilometers. It is very cold there at night and frost often occurs. Thick fur protects against freezing better than any jacket. It also protects against parasites: fleas and ticks simply cannot get through such dense forests of hair and suffocate there.

The amazing thing is: a chinchilla CANNOT bathe in water! If it gets wet, its fur becomes heavy, does not dry for several days, and the animal can get sick. Therefore, chinchillas "bath" in special volcanic dust. They lie down in a bowl of dust, turn over, shake their paws - and the dust cleans all the fur like real shampoo.

If you have a chinchilla, be sure to put a dust bath in its cage two or three times a week. You'll see how happily it rolls around in it - and you'll understand why chinchillas are considered the happiest animals on the planet.