White chinchillas come under many names within the pet market:
Silver, mosaic, reverse mosaic, patterned and White. But all of them have
the same genetic makeup and for showing purposes are shown as Wilson Whites.
(See this page to identify which white you own)
The first white
chinchillas was recorded to have appeared at the ranch of
Blythe Wilson, Redding, CA in 1955. This first
animal was a male and was recorded as animal 44R-B17
(44R = ranch code, B = year designation for 1955, 17 = litter number).
Both of his parents were standard grey adults.
Albino chinchillas
had periodically appeared before but were infertile and did not reproduce to
continue white coloured chinchillas, this animal however was not an albino - and
instead of having the lack of pigmentation and pink eyes of a normal albino had
instead a distinctive mutation white fur with dark ears and dark eyes.
This was the first recorded animal of its type ever known to have occurred in
chinchillas.
This animal when
paired to standard females also proved to be fertile and many offspring were
produced - some of which were again white with dark eyes and ears. These
became known as Wilson Whites, though it was some years before the first
white chinchillas reached the general market, and because of their rarity they
were sold for very high prices.
The genes involved in the creation of a white
chinchilla are not totally dominant when they are present - so the standard fur
can also be shown - producing a variety of differing patterns of white and grey
fur. These have been come to be known by many different name:
silver, mosaic, reverse mosaic.
This
variety of patterning occurs because white genes work as a pigment inhibitor,
that is they do not work by showing themselves in the fur, simply by stopping
other genes from showing their colours. The
Wilson white gene is therefore an incomplete dominant gene.
This
process causes areas where the pigment is
not put into the hairs at all. This can be all over, in patches, or blended through another
colour evenly, called silver. It is not albinism and is not associated with pink
eyes and ears.
It
also has a lethal factor causing the same problem as
Black Velvet, it cannot exist in the homozygous
state.
For showing, Whites should
be true white, not yellow or creamy will often appear clear and sharp - the
judges refer to this as Blue White. Main faults associated with whites for
showing are small size and weak fur - they are prone to fur faults such as cow
licks and grotzens where the fur does not stand strong and upright but can lie
in varying patterns.
A good show quality white chinchilla will cost
less than a good quality standard for this reason, but for the pet trade white
chinchillas are often more in demand so therefore likely to be higher priced
than a low quality standard.
Mating a Wilson White to a Standard will produce 50% White and 50% Standard -
though the standards produced will be of a lower quality than those produced
from a Standard only line. The patterning of White chinchillas
is not based on when the reproduce.
The fur trade is not particularly interested in white pelts, since these are
indistinguishable from white rabbit’s pelts.
Markings within white chinchillas are highly variable, from nearly all grey to
all white. You can tell if a chin is carrying the white gene, as some portion of
the tail will be white, from the whole tail, to just the very tip.
