Bahamian hutia | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Echimyidae |
Tribe: | Capromyini |
Genus: | Geocapromys |
Species: | G. ingrahami |
Binomial name | |
Geocapromys ingrahami (J. A. Allen, 1891) | |
The Bahamian hutia or Ingraham's hutia (Geocapromys ingrahami) is a small, furry, rat-like mammal found only in the Bahamas. About the size of a rabbit, it lives in burrows in forests or shrubland, emerging at night to feed on leaves, fruit, and other plant matter. It was believed extinct until rediscovery in 1964, and it remains the focus of conservation efforts. The Bahamian hutia is a member of the hutia subfamily (Capromyinae), a group of rodents native to the Caribbean, many of which are endangered or extinct.
The Bahamian hutia is a rat-like rodent with a short tail and a body-length of up to 60 centimetres (24 in). Its fur varies in colour and can be black, brown, grey, white or reddish. [2]
The Bahamian hutia is endemic to the Bahamas. [2] Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and rocky areas. It was believed to be extinct until 1966, when biologist Garrett Clough found a relict population on East Plana Cay, a small, uninhabited strip of land east of Long Island, Bahama, between Acklins Island and Mayaguana Island. [3] The Plana Cays are the last natural habitat of the Bahamian hutia and are currently home to most of the remaining population. [2] Colonist hutias were introduced into isolated parts of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park in 1973 as a conservation measure. [3] [4] The IUCN puts it as possibly extant in the Turks and Caicos islands. [4]
The Bahamian hutia is a nocturnal species, remaining underground during the day. It can climb trees but mostly forages on or close to the ground, feeding on leaves, shoots, fruit, nuts and bark and occasionally insects or small lizards. [2] It has been known to feed on seaweed. [1]
Adults form lasting pair bonds and breeding can occur at any time of year. Up to four young are born after a gestation period of about four months. They are able to eat solid food after a few days and may stay as a family group for up to two years, by which time they are sexually mature. [2]
Different species of hutia vary greatly in temperament, but biologist Garrett Clough described the Bahamian hutia as "a most peaceable rodent". [3]
Two subspecies became extinct in modern times. The Crooked Island hutia (G. i. irrectus) and the Great Abaco hutia (G. i. abaconis) were mentioned by early European voyagers, and are thought to have become extinct by 1600. This is thought to be due to land clearance rather than direct hunting.
As this rodent is known from only six locations, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being "vulnerable". Its population, though small, is believed to be steady, but it could be threatened by adverse conditions such as a hurricane, or by the arrival on the islands of predators such as feral cats. [1] [3]
Acklins is an island and district of the Bahamas.
The Plana Cays are a group of two small uninhabited islands in the southern Bahama Islands, located east of Acklins Island and west of Mayaguana Island. The indigenous Lucayan people called the islands Amaguaya, meaning "toward the middle lands".
The Little Swan Island hutia is an extinct species of rodent that lived on Little Swan Island, off northeastern Honduras in the Caribbean. It was a slow-moving, guinea-pig-like rodent and probably emerged from caves and limestone crevices to forage on bark, small twigs and leaves.
Hutias are moderately large cavy-like rodents of the subfamily Capromyinae that inhabit the Caribbean islands. Most species are restricted to Cuba, but species are known from all of the Greater Antilles, as well as The Bahamas and (formerly) Little Swan Island off of Honduras.
Garrido's hutia is a small, critically endangered, rat-like mammal found in coastal mangrove forests on Cuba and nearby islands. It is rarely seen and may be extinct. It is a member of the hutia subfamily (Capromyinae), a group of rodents native to the Caribbean that are mostly endangered or extinct. The only other species in its genus, the Desmarest's hutia, is also found only on Cuba.
Geocapromys is a genus of rodent belonging to the hutia subfamily and are currently only found on the Bahamas and Jamaica. However, they formerly ranged throughout the Caribbean, from Cuba to the Cayman Islands to even islands off mainland Central America.
The Jamaican coney, also known as the Jamaican hutia or Brown's hutia, is a small, endangered, rat-like mammal found only on the island of Jamaica. About the size of a rabbit, it lives in group nests and is active at night to feed on fruit, bark, and other plant matter. It is currently endangered by habitat loss, hunting, and non-native species; it persists only in remote mountains. The Jamaican coney belongs to the hutia subfamily (Capromyinae) and is the only surviving native mammal on Jamaica other than bats.
Tyto pollens is an extinct giant barn owl which lived in the Bahamas during the last Ice Age.
Desmarest's hutia or the Cuban hutia is a stout, furry, rat-like mammal found only on Cuba and nearby islands. Growing to about 60 cm (2 ft), it normally lives in pairs and feeds on leaves, fruit, bark and sometimes small animals. It is the largest living hutia, a group of rodents native to the Caribbean that are mostly endangered or extinct. Desmarest's hutia remains widespread throughout its range, though one subspecies native to the nearby Cayman Islands went extinct shortly after European colonization in the 1500s.
The Cuban coney is an extinct species of rodent in the subfamily Capromyinae. It was endemic to Cuba. Its natural habitats were lowlands moist forests, xeric shrublands and rocky areas. Some scientists indicate that this species may have survived and coexisted with introduced rat species from the Old World until approximately 1500, while others indicate that it became extinct earlier in the Holocene.
The prehensile-tailed hutia is a small, furry, rat-like mammal found only in forests on Cuba. It is the only member of the genus Mysateles. It climbs and lives in trees where it eats only leaves, and it is threatened by habitat loss. The prehensile-tailed hutia is a member of the hutia subfamily (Capromyinae), a group of rodents native to the Caribbean that are mostly endangered or extinct.
Cyclura cychlura inornata, the Allen Cays rock iguana or Allen Cays iguana, is a subspecies of the northern Bahamian rock iguana that is found on Allen's Cay and adjacent islands in the Bahamas. Its status in the IUCN Red List is critically endangered. The population has been growing over the last century. Although it was considered extinct in 1916, there are as of 2018 at least 482 mature adult animals counted on two islands, Leaf Cay and U Cay, and a few hundred on at least five other nearby islands where they have recently spread to by unknown means, as well as many juveniles.
The Caribbean bioregion is a biogeographic region that includes the islands of the Caribbean Sea and nearby Atlantic islands, which share a fauna, flora and mycobiota distinct from surrounding bioregions.
Cyclura cychlura figginsi, known by the common name of guana and sometimes called the Exuma Island iguana in the international literature, is a subspecies of the northern rock iguana, C. cychlura, that is found on the Exuma island chain in the Bahamas with an estimated wild population of 1,300 animals in 2004, it has been listed on the IUCN Red List as critically endangered.
Leiocephalus greenwayi, commonly known as the East Plana curlytail and the Plana Cay curlytail lizard, is a species of lizard in the family of curly-tailed lizards (Leiocephalidae). The species is native to the West Indies.
The San Felipe hutia, also known as the little earth hutia, is small, critically endangered, rat-like mammal found on the small island of Cayo de Juan Garcia off the southwest coast of Cuba. It was discovered in 1970 and is possibly extinct. Little is known about the species, except that it lives in swamps and coastal mangrove forests. It is a member of the hutia subfamily (Capromyinae), a group of stout rodents native to the Caribbean that are mostly endangered or extinct.
The Bahamian dry forests are a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, covering an area of 4,900 km2 (1,900 sq mi). They are found on much of the northern Bahamas, including Andros, Abaco, and Grand Bahama, where they are known as coppices. Dry forests are distributed evenly throughout the Turks and Caicos.
Chilabothrus strigilatus, also known commonly as the Bahamian boa, is a species of snake in the family Boidae. The species is endemic to the Bahamas. There are five recognized subspecies.