A few weeks ago I had the exciting opportunity to teach a class about one of God's amazing creations! A friend of ours asked me if I would be willing to bring my two Chinchillas to her class and show and tell the kids about these special animals, so of course I said yes! Ever since we got our first chinchilla, Sage, about 6 years ago, I have learned so much about these adorable little creatures and love to tell others the history and amazing characteristic of this animal.
Of course the very first thing that I told the children in the class was that these
little guys are classified as the softest animal in the world! Where as we only have 1 strand of hair per follicle, the Chinchilla has 80 to 100!
Even though the class was made up of about 12 1st graders, they paid attention very well and were surprisingly able to tell back almost word for word what I had told them!
"This is Sage. He is about 10 years old, is most likely totally blind, but is very friendly and loves to be scratched under his chin."
After I told a little about the history of the Chinchilla and how they came to be in America ( in 1924 a man by the name of Mathias Chapman captured 11 Chins over in the Peruvian mountain range of the Andes and brought them over to California to start a breeding farm.) I took out Sage and let the kids pet him and feel his soft coat. I then brought out my second Chinchilla, Basil, who is only 2 years old and who lives up to the true characteristics of this animal in the way of high energy and being able to jump up to 6 feet, and had him demonstrate another unique quality the Chinchilla displays. Because their fur is so dense, if they get it wet in anyway it will mat all up and look lumpy. So to stay clean and fluffy they take their baths in volcanic ash or dust.
Basil really gets into his bath time activity! He loves to roll and flip and therefore put on quite the show to the excitement of the whole class!
The little dust master!
Sooner than I expected, my time was up and the class quickly answered a few simple questions about the Chinchilla and then moved on. My enjoyment of the whole time was not however diminished and if, Lord willing, I am ever able to give another class about these unique little animals I would be delighted to, for the whole purpose of bringing glory to our Lord for His all powerful hand displayed through creation in this amazing creature, the Chinchilla!
Grace <><
(Photographs by Faith)
