Wilson White

The Wilson White was the first of the Chinchilla mutations to appear in captivity. The first to be born was on the Blythe Wilson ranch (hence, Wilson White) in Redding, California in 1955.

This animal was not an albino (where there is no pigmentation, so pink ears and eyes with purely white fur), as had been bred before, but was a 'patchy' white and Standard animal, with dark 'Standard-esque' ears and eyes. This chinchilla had white belly fur akin to a Standard animal, and also an agouti fur type where the Standard fur was showing in patches. When bred, this animal proved fertile, and bred both Whites and Standards with it's mates (which were naturally all Standards!)...

When bred to standards, Wilson Whites are found to be a dominant mutation, meaning that a mating of a Wilson White to a Standard gives 50% Wilson Whites and 50% Standards.

Wilson White chinchillas come in a variety of pattinations, each with their own name, but are basically chinchillas which have a basis of being Standard-grey in colour, showing the usual dark ears and eyes of a standard, with some or all of the fur and hair on their body, white. This means that Wilson White chinchillas can be bred in a variety of pattinations, but are all principally of the same mutation.

The differing pattinations possible makes the Wilson White an 'incomplete dominant' mutation, since the whiteness is incomplete in most cases, and when paired to a Standard animal, the Wilson White will produce 50% Standards and 50% Wilson Whites. The White gene effectively suppresses the Standard-grey colour of the animal, but does not do this entirely...

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 Wilson Whites, it is thought that there is a lethal factor linked to the double gene, or Homozygous Wilson White, which prevents it being viable. This is thought to be the case since no Wilson White has ever been proven to be Homozygous for White, meaning that all kits produced off a Homozygous Wilson White would be Heterozygous Wilson White... With this in mind, pairing Wilson White's together is not recommended, although I have yet to see any evidence to prove the diagnosis of a lethal gene..

When breeding Wilson Whites, all of the usual show qualities should be looked for, but in particular, clarity, blueness, and fur strength should be paramount. A Wilson White without a clear-blue colour, or with slightly softish fur will not win good awards at UK shows, therefore these attributes should be born in mind when trying to breed a quality Wilson White.

There is no favour given to any one of the differing pattinations, but they are achieved by breeding selectively in a variety of different ways. Since Mosaics are the most common form of the Wilson White, it would be unusual to specifically breed for them, so instead, I shall comment on how to breed Silvers and Pure Whites. There are three distinct names given to Wilson Whites, depending on their pattination. These are;

Mosaic - A 'patchwork' of White, Silver and Standard fur. This is the most common form of the Wilson White. Unusual mosaics can occur where you get predominantly white or Standard chinchillas with a 'Saddle' or 'spots' of Standard or White fur.

Silver - A predominantly white chinchilla with an even distribution of Standard tipping and/or guard hair showing. Silvers tend to be bred from specific Wilson White lines with a preponderance to throw 'Silvers', but the veiling can be improved by breeding them with very evenly veiled Standards. Silvers can also be bred from Pure Whites, crossed with Standards of very even veiling coverage with particularly long guard hair.

Pure White - A pure-white animal with no Standard guard hair or fur colour showing. A quite rare chinchilla. When breeding 'Pure Whites', you must choose Standards with very short or visibly no guard hair, and even veiling coverage with a shallow tipping to them - principally, a well-veiled Medium Standard!

Our personal preference is to select clear, blue, strongly furred Standards to breed to our

Wilson Whites. We do not favour any particular pattination, preferring to choose Standards with plenty of long guard hairs (not so long as to detract from the overall appearance of the chinchilla, but long enough to protrude above the fur of the Standard) which aides the strength of the White fur. In doing this, we tend to breed Wilson Whites which resemble Silvers/Mosaics which have silky-strong stand-up fur quality, and which are blue and clear...

We do not feel a need to pair Wilson Whites to each other, since their tendency for slightly soft fur means using top quality Standards is a must, and the presence of a possible lethal factor also dissuades us.

When looking to exhibit Wilson Whites, all the usual attributes of a show quality chinchilla should be looked for, but there are two specific points which judges pay special attention to;

(1) Wilson Whites have a tendency to have soft fur, which tends to lie back. Poor quality Wilson Whites also have fur faults such as split grotzens (look like a parting in the fur, as that made my a comb) and swirls (look like rosettes in the fur).

(2) Wilson Whites should show no yellowness or creaminess to their fur - the judges are looking for what they refer to as 'Persil White', named after a brand of washing powder which makes white washing slightly 'blue-white' in appearance.

No favour is given to the pattination of the Wilson White in it's class, so in this respect, the veiling term is neglected in the Judging of Wilson White chinchillas. Special care should be taken of white chinchillas, that they are kept in the cleanest of conditions, since any dirtiness or muddiness in their coat would penalise them on the show table. This of course applies to all of your potential show animals - cleanliness is next to godliness when it comes to showing your chinchillas...

The Wilson White, being an established Mutation to breed, 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

Combination	Known as in UK	Known as in US	Description of the Combination	Seen on UK Show tables?
Beige + Wilson White	Pink White	Pink White or Starlight	Pink Whites are a peachy, creamy white version of a Wilson White, with the Beige's ear and eye colouration, and white belly fur. Where the standard fur would show on a Wilson White, you see the Beige fur instead. You see many variations in pattination akin to the Wilson White, except the Beige Veiling gene seems strong so often you see quite evenly veiled Pink-Whites compared to Wilson Whites. Pink -Whites should still show a blueness to their fur, although a creaminess is often difficult to breed out.	Often
Black Velvet + Wilson White	Black-White cross	TOV White	Black-White crosses are basically a Wilson White, with the exception that instead of seeing Standard guard hair and fur coming through the White, you see Black Velvet guard hair and fur. They tend to be shown in classes of Wilson Whites, since they usually strongly resemble Wilson Whites, unless they are of an extreme mosaic pattination.	Seldom
Beige + Black Velvet + Wilson White	Brown-White cross	TOV Pink-White, or TOV Starlight	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.	Seldom
Wilson White + Charcoal	Char-White?	-	Not seen on UK Show tables. Would imagine the mosaic veiling of the guard hair and charcoal fur coming through the White fur would spread to include the belly fur. Fur quality would likely be poor.	Not seen
Wilson White + Sapphire	White-Sapphire	White-Sapphire	The likelihood is that it would resemble a bluish white chinchilla, although would likely have very soft fur.	Not seen
Wilson White + Violet	White-Violet	White-Violet?	White-Violets are a relatively new Mutation on UK show tables, and resemble Wilson Whites with a very slight Violet hue. They tend to have poor fur quality. The would tend to be exhibited in the Wilson White class.	Very Rarely
Wilson White + Ebony	White-Ebony	White-Ebony?	Would resemble a Wilson White, except the guard hair and fur would be black, not Standard grey, and the veiling may also include the belly fur. A few examples started to be bred but generally poor fur quality, and unless the veiling extended into the belly fur, would be judged as a Wilson White or a Black-White cross.	Not seen

Punnet Square for Wilson White x Standard	W	w
w	Ww - Wilson White	ww - Standard
w	Ww - Wilson White	ww - Standard

Punnet Square for Wilson White x Wilson White	W	w
W	WW - Homozygous Wilson White - non-viable	Ww - Wilson White
w	Ww - Wilson White	ww - Standard