Methodology to calculate the age of a chinchilla
There is no infallible mathematical formula to calculate the human age of a chinchilla because its growth and physiological changes during its life are very different from what's seen in humans.
However, it is rather based on the observations of the ages of the chinchilla, that veterinarians have established a correlation table (age chart) to see an equivalent in human age:
| Chinchilla real age | 6 mths | 1 yr | 2 yrs | 3 yrs | 4 yrs | 5 yrs | 6 yrs | 7 yrs | 8 yrs | 9 yrs | 10 yrs | 15 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human age | 12 | 17 | 24 | 31 | 38 | 45 | 52 | 59 | 66 | 73 | 78 | 123 |
Life expectancy of the chinchilla: In captivity, chinchillas have a life expectancy of 10 years, with records of people living up to 20 years.
And you, how old your chinchilla?
Longevity
If humans had Jeanne Calment, the oldest chinchilla in the world would have been a male named Bouncer.
He died in 2005 in Great Barr (Birmingham, UK) at the age of 28 years, which would correspond to a human aged nearly 240 years !!!
His age is documented in the Guinness Book of Records as the animal that sold Bouncer Jenny Ann Bowen confirmed the date of birth of Chinchilla 1st July 1977!
