Animal Info - Cabrera's Hutia

(Other Names: Conguino, Jutia)

Mesocapromys angelcabrerai (Capromys a.)

Status: Critically Endangered

1. Profile (Picture)
2. Status and Trends (IUCN Status, Countries Where Currently Found, History of Distribution, Threats and Reasons for Decline)
3. Data on Biology and Ecology (Habitat, Diet, Behavior, Social Organization)
4. References

Profile

Pictures: Related Species: Bahamas Hutia (7 Kb JPEG) and Jamaican Hutia (8 Kb JPEG)

Cabrera's hutia is found in mangrove forests. Its diet generally includes leaves, bark, fruit, lizards and other small animals. Cabrera's hutia is mainly arboreal. The communal nests it reportedly builds in mangrove trees are circular, measuring about 1 m (3.3') in diameter, and are built out of mangrove branches and leaves.

Cabrera's hutia is known only from a few specimens collected in the mid-1970's on the islands of the Cayos de Ana Maria, off southcentral Cuba. It is very localized but is abundant in the areas where it occurs. The area is remote and there are no plans for development (Alvarez & Gonzalez 1991).

Status and Trends

IUCN Status:

1982 - 1994: Endangered
1996 - 2004: Critically Endangered (Criteria: B1+2ce) (IUCN 2004)

Countries Where Cabrera's Hutia Is Currently Found:

2004: Occurs in Cuba (IUCN 2004).

History of Distribution:

It is known only from a few specimens collected in the mid-1970's on the islands of the Cayos de Ana Maria, off south-central Cuba.

Distribution Map (12 Kb) (InfoNatura)

Threats and Reasons for Decline:

Cabrera's hutia is very localized but is abundant in the areas where it occurs. The area is remote and there are no plans for development (Alvarez & Gonzalez 1991).

Data on Biology and Ecology

Habitat:

Cabrera's hutia is found in mangrove forests.

Cabrera's hutia is one of the species that live in both the Caribbean Biodiversity Hotspot (Cons. Intl.) and the Greater Antillean Moist Forests Global 200 Ecoregion. (Olson & Dinerstein 1998, Olson & Dinerstein 1999)

Diet:

The diet of Cuban hutias generally includes leaves, bark, fruit, lizards and other small animals.

Behavior:

Cabrera's hutia is mainly arboreal. The nests it reportedly builds in mangrove trees are circular, measuring about 1 m (3.3') in diameter, and are built out of mangrove branches and leaves.

Social Organization:

Cabrera's hutia has been reported to build communal nests.

References

Alvarez & Gonzalez 1991, Burton & Pearson 1987, Cons. Intl., InfoNatura, IUCN 1994, IUCN 1996, IUCN 2000, IUCN 2003a, IUCN 2004, Nowak 1999, Nowak & Paradiso 1983, Olson & Dinerstein 1998, Olson & Dinerstein 1999

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