Critically Endangered
Bahamian hutia
Geocapromys ingrahami
The Bahamian hutia or Ingraham's hutia is a small, furry, rat-like mammal found only in the Bahamas.
Appearance
Its fur varies in colour and can be black, brown, grey, white or reddish.
The Bahamian hutia is a rat-like rodent with a short tail and a body-length of up to 60 centimetres (24 in).
Range and habitat
The Bahamian hutia is endemic to the Bahamas. 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, Bahamas, between Acklins Island and Mayaguana Island.
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. 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.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
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.
It has been known to feed on seaweed. Adults form lasting pair bonds and breeding can occur at any time of year.
In crisis
The Bahamian hutia or Ingraham's hutia is a small, furry, rat-like mammal found only in the Bahamas. It was believed extinct until rediscovery in 1964, and it remains the focus of conservation efforts. Two subspecies became extinct in modern times.
As this rodent is known from only six locations, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being "critically endangered".
Bahamian hutia is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Bahamian hutia, Wikidata item Q788595. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
