Critically Endangered
San Felipe hutia
Mesocapromys sanfelipensis
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.
Appearance
It has a grayish-brown fur, a short tail, small ears and a thick body.
The San Felipe hutia is a small rodent, with a body length of 8 to 9 in (20 to 23 cm).
Range and habitat
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. Little is known about the species, except that it lives in swamps and coastal mangrove forests. The San Felipe hutia lives on Cayo de Juan Garcia and possibly adjacent islands, part of the Cayos de San Felipe located west of Isla de la Juventud.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
It is nocturnal, and usually forages for food at night. The San Felipe hutia is believed to feed on a variety of plant material and small invertebrates found in its coastal habitat.
In crisis
It was discovered in 1970 and is possibly extinct. It is threatened by introduced predators, habitat degradation and hunting. It is also threatened by introduced plants that can outcompete its native vegetation, as well as rising sea levels that could reduce its habitat.
Conservation efforts are currently underway to protect this species, among them the protection of its coastal habitat and the introduction of predator controls.
San Felipe 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 San Felipe hutia, Wikidata item Q1041402. 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.
