Chinchillas are amazing little creatures, and if you have one as a pet, you should learn as much as you can about the little guy to see where he came from and to know why he does some of the crazy things he does. Here's 3 cool facts that you may not know about your little furry friend.

If you own a chinchilla, you already know that it's fur is extremely thick and soft. What you may not know is that they were created that way because their native environment is quite cold. They will grow up to 60 hairs per hair follical, where as humans usually grow 1-2 per follical. This makes their fur so dense that common skin parasites like fleas can't live on them because they will actually suffocate. Their unique fur also comes with some unusual cleaning habits like taking dust baths instead water baths, and they also carry the risk of over-heating if they are in a higher temperature (about 75 degrees F plus)

The Andes Mountains are where chinchillas are originally from, where they live on the rocky terrain of the mountainside. They would live in burrows and rock crevices where they can hide from predators. For being so small they can jump very high and are also great climbers. They can jump up to 6 feet high!

When you bring your chinchilla home and let him out of his cage, you'll see firsthand what I'm talking about. They love to climb on available furniture and hop around on stuff to get exercise. Having a roomy cage for them is essential so they are free to bounce around inside it without feeling too trapped.

Unlike most other rodents, chinchillas have a very long gestation period of about 111 days. Because of this long pregnancy, the babies are much more developed than other rodents like mice or rats. Baby chinchillas, also known as kits, will actually come out with fur and open eyes. Litters are actually quite small too, usually just two at a time. Once born , they are usually weaned in 6-8 weeks and will love up to 20 years domestically!