After removing the skin you can see the primary organs of the reprodution and urinary systems of the male chinchilla. Unlike humans, and many other mammals, male chinchillas do not carry their testes in a scrotum. The male chinchilla does have a scrotum sac that allows the epididymis to descend and help regulate the temperature the sperm is kept as preventing the death of the sperm. If a chin is warm you can sometimes see these hanging on either side of the anus and they are commonly refered to as the chinchillas testicles although they are not truly testicles. You will note that the reproducation organs are surrounded with large amounts of fat stores, this allows them to be protected and kept warm in cold climates as extreme temperatures can kill the sperm. The reproduction systems are seperated by the other visceral organs by membranes, because the sperm do not carry a full set of chromosomes the body would destroy as they would not recognize them as a product created by the body.

Editors note: Although it is difficult to notice in the above photo this animal actually had under-developed reproductive organs on the left side. This did not affect the animals health or even breeding as it had sucessfully bred in the past, but from this point we will focus on the right side which was normally developed.

After removing the covering tissues and membranes you can easily see the testes and the epididymis. The testes store long tubules that contain cells that will develop into sperm cells. Each animal is born with a certain amount of these cells already available, throughout the life time they will mature, but no more will ever be made. The testes begin to mature the cells into sperm during adolescence. The testes are also very important for producing sex hormones, these help regulate sperm production and help create many of the physical aspects that differieniate between males and females. Although the journey of the sperm begins in the testes the longest process actually happens in the epididymis. After the sperm cells have begun to mature into sperm cells they are then moved into the epididymis where they complete the process. Sperm are not viable until after passing through the epididymis. The epididymis is formed by a very long path of tubes through with the sperm must pass. You will note that the long series of tubes is easily visible in the photo below.

By moving the testes and epididymis to the side we can then clearly see the vas deferns. This is the tube that connects the epididymis to the urethra.

Below we can view the seminal vessicles, although they do not play a part in producing sperm, they do make up over 50% of the additional fluids found in semen. The seminal vessicles in the chinchilla are large compared to many other mammals. This is very likely due to the fact that chinchillas create a mating plug after mating which helps seal in the sperm until the egg(s) are fertilized and also prevents any other males from sucessfully breeding the female. The mating plug is a waxy white plug which will remain inside of the female and expeled later. Although the other teste and epididymis was removed prior to this photo the bladder sits between the testes. You can see that this animals bladder still contain urine.

The urinary system begins in the kidney, after being processed the urea is them moved through the ureter into the urinary bladder where it is stored until it is to be released. Above the kidney on each side is an adrenal gland that help produce hormones that regulate body functions. You can also view the female urinary system for photos of the urinary tract in a female chinchilla.

This is an overview of the kidney dissected. Blood flowing through the kidney is filtered in the medulla and the cortex with the greatest degree of filtration occuring in the cortex. As the blood is filtered and the urea is removed, it then is collected and drips into the calyx, through the renal pelvis, and finally through the ureter into the bladder.