History of the Gunning Black Velvet
The history of the Gunning Black Velvet can be traced back to 1960, when a chinchilla was born on the ranch of Bob Gunning, of Davenport, Washington State, which was predominantly Standard but which had a Black face, or mask. This chinchilla was found to be fertile, and from breeding with Standards, produced both Standards with, and without the Black Mask.
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EDN034 - Young Black Velvet
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Over time, and through selective breeding methods, utilising the best veiled standards, the black colouration was spread through the neck, down over the grotzen, and eventually down the chinchillas sides to it's white belly strip. High quality Black Velvets are now predominantly an intensely blue-black colour from their nose to the base of their tail, right the way down from the centre of their grotzen (back) to the clear-white belly strip.
The term 'Velvet' was attributed to the Gunning Black since in general they have a beautiful velvety 'knap' to their fur, which seems to be silky and to shimmer as light passes over it.
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EDN020 - Adult Black Velvet Female
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Black Velvet chinchillas often show 'paw spats', which are black or very dark stripes
across the front paws, or along the hind legs. They also can exhibit what is known as a 'Roman Nose', which basically means the fur just above the nose of the animal is slightly longer than on a Standard, giving a 'Rounder, fuller looking nose (sounds odd, I Know...)
Genetics of the Black Velvet
The Black Velvet was found to be a dominant mutation, which is proven when mating it to a Standard, when progeny is 50% Black Velvet and 50% Standard on average.
Where GG = Homozygous Black Velvet - non-viable
Where Gg = Heterozygous Black Velvet
Where gg = Standard
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Punnet Square for Black Velvet x Standard |
G |
g |
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g |
Gg - Black Velvet |
gg - Standard |
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g |
Gg - Black Velvet |
gg - Standard |
When breeding a dominant mutation, in the case of the Tower Beige, a homozygous form (or double beige genes) is able to be bred, but in the Black Velvets, it is thought that there is a lethal factor linked to the double gene, or Homozygous Black Velvet, which prevents it being viable.
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Punnet Square for Black Velvet x Black Velvet |
G |
g |
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G |
GG - Homo Black Velvet - non-viable |
Gg - Black Velvet |
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g |
Gg - Black Velvet |
gg - Standard |
This is thought to be the case since no Black Velvet has ever been proven to be Homozygous for Black Velvet, meaning that all kits produced off a Homozygous Black Velvet would be at least Heterozygous Black Velvet... With this in mind, pairing Black Velvets together is not a particularly useful mating, although I have yet to see any evidence to prove the diagnosis of a lethal gene..
Breeding Black Velvets
The best Black Velvets are intensely blue-black in colour, very evenly veiled down their sides and through their necks, right down to a pure clear-white belly strip.
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EDM040
- Young Black Velvet Male
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In order to breed good Black Velvets, all of the usual points of a show quality chinchilla should be borne in mind, but special attention should be made to the veiling coverage of the Standard animals you pair them to. Use of Standards which pale in the neck and over the hips will result in Black Velvets with poor veiling coverage. Continued breeding of Black Velvets to medium colour phase Standards will result in a lack of black intensity of colour. So, when choosing a mate for a Black Velvet, the best candidate will be a dark or extra-dark Standard, which is blue and clear in colour, with excellent veiling coverage (namely, good depth of tipping throughout the chinchillas coat).
Poor show quality Black Velvets have black faces and only a very thin strip of black (or none at all) down the chinchillas grotzen (back) to the tail...
Exhibiting Black Velvets
The methods for judging Black velvets are exactly the same as for any other chinchilla with the exception that they should be BLACK, not predominantly Standard.
The 'Mutant' Black Velvet fur has no bar, so when you blow into it, you should see no white bar. You can often discern the coverage of a Black by blowing into the fur, starting at the centre of the grotzen (centre of the back) where the blackness should be complete, and moving down over the hips of the animal where you will start to see the Standard fur with a bar be present. If this Standard fur is very dark with good depth of tipping, it can give the appearance that the Black spreads right the way down the sides of the animal, but in all but the most exceptional of Black Velvets, this is not the case.
What to look for in a top quality Black Velvet is ideally a blue-black, intense, dark colour, from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail, right the way down the sides of the animal with no paling over the hips, shoulders or in the neck, down to a pure-white, clear-white belly fur.
Combinations of Mutations with the Black Velvet
The Black Velvet, being an established Mutation, has been used to create many different 'blends' of colour combinations, some of which are listed below;
Click on the links to see pictures where available in our 'Mutation Combinations' Section of this Website
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Combination |
Known as in UK |
Known as in US |
Description of the Combination |
Seen on UK Show tables? |
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Beige + Black Velvet |
TOV Beige |
Brown Velvets are darker than Beiges, being a chocolate brown colour due to the influence of the Black Velvet colouration. They range in colour phase and have a distinct class of their own. They have white belly fur. |
Often |
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Black Velvet + Wilson White |
Black-White cross |
The Black-White cross is a Mosaic chinchilla similar to the Wilson White, with the exception that any Standard grey guard hair or fur is replaced with Black Velvet guard hair or fur. The Black-White cross has a white belly fur and is usually exhibited with the Wilson Whites. |
Often |
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Beige + Black Velvet + Wilson White |
? |
Brown-White crosses resemble Pink-Whites, although where mosaic patches of colour appear, they tend to be darker. The presence of Black Velvet usually helps fur strength, although unless obvious as a Brown-White, will be judged in the Pink-White class. |
Infrequently |
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Black Velvet + Charcoal |
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A Char-Black is a combination of recessive Brouke Charcoal and Black Velvet. It is a matt-black colouration all over the animal including the belly fur. It is exhibited in the 'Self-Black' class with Ebonies, since these can often not be discerned from one another phenotypically. |
Rare |
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Beige + Black Velvet + Charcoal |
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A Dark Pastel is a combination of Beige, Black Velvet and Recessive Brouke Charcoal. The Dark Pastel chinchilla has it's matt Brown-Velvet colouration spread evenly over the entire animal, including the belly fur, and has the Beige's eye and ear colouration. |
Rare |
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Black Velvet + Sapphire |
Royale, or TOV Sapphire |
The Royal Blue is a deep dark blue coloured chinchilla, with the coverage paling to Sapphire as the Black Velvet veiling fades down towards the white belly fur. It is considered by many to be the finest mutation chinchilla colour. |
Rare |
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Black Velvet + Sullivan Violet |
TOV Violet |
Ultra Violets are darker versions of the Violet animal, with a white belly fur, due to the presence of the Black Velvet gene. Depending on the colour phase of Violet used to breed them, their colour-phase can resemble that of a dark Violet. |
Seldom |
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Black Velvet + Deutsch Violet |
TOV Deutsch Violet |
Ultra Deutsch Violets are darker versions of the Deutsch Violet animal, with a white belly fur, due to the presence of the Black Velvet gene. Depending on the colour phase of Deutsch Violet used to breed them, their colour-phase can resemble that of a dark Deutsch Violet. |
Not seen |
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Black Velvet + Ebony |
Black-Ebony? |
TOV Ebony |
This combination puts Black Velvet with the Black Ebony. When the Ebony is in the Extra-dark colour phase, the presence of Black Velvet is not easy to see. These chinchillas would be exhibited in the 'Self-Black' class with the Char-Blacks, since they cannot be easily distinguished phenotypically. |
Rare |