RARE BREVICAUDATA / BOLIVIANA WATERCOLOUR PRINT

What fun the cheeky chinchilla gang are having persuading their chin mum to buy
all these lovely original watercolour prints of themselves and friends!

This one is a rare hand water coloured print
(long before colour printing times - 1858)

1858 - Sir William Jardine - plate26 - from the book - NATURALIST'S LIBRARY

Published in London - England

Chinchilla Diana, Viscacha, Native of America
Well, that's what it says, but the chinchillas reckon that this little chap
is the rare and practically extinct Boliviana (or Brevicaudia)
 known for it's very short bushy tail - okay it's got stripes, but you have
to reckon that this is 1858 and well before photographs
The artist had to go by the description of the viewer's memory
And we all know what tricks out memory can play on us!
Probably tried to remember the animal by thinking of a cross between
a guinea pig and cat (and even guinea pigs were unusual animals back then!)
Here is a 'modern' drawing of the Boliviana chinchilla below

Interesting to note that in the early stages of fur breeding ranches
they tried to 'mix' the stocky build of this chinchilla (Boliviana) along
with the 'quality fur' of the chinchilla (Lanigera) but failed in producing a quality animal,
so they discarded with the Boliviana chinchilla shown above and concentrated
on the Lanigera fur quality chinchillas that we have today!