Capromyidae

The Capromyidae , or Hutias form a Famille Rongeur S, divided into four subfamily S:

The most known hutia is the cuban species Capromys pilorides or Hutia of Cuba.

Morphological characteristics

The hutias are Rongeur S of big size characterized by a massive head with the more or less frayed muzzle, very robust legs whose fingers are sometimes joined together by a membrane and a variable tail length.

Two species with prehensible tail are the excellent climbing ones.

The largest species, Capromys pilorides , is about of the size of a large Chat domesticates. Smallest hutias, of the size of a rat.

  • Length: from 22 to 60 cm
  • Queue: from 15 to 30 cm
  • Weight: from 4,3 to 8,5 kg
  • Maturity: around 10 months
  • Period of the coupling: all the year
  • Gestation period: from 110 to 140 days
  • Carried: from 1 to 6 small: usually 2
  • Lasted between two gestations: 1 year

Habitat

The hutias are endemic the Caribbean. In the beginning, they are forest animals, but one finds them in the rock and marshy habitats, in the coastal regions, tropical forests and marshes, Mangrove S.

Hutia lives mainly in colony in the cuban forests and marshes. One finds on this island ten species of hutias which nourish plants and lizards but whose population is in constant reduction.

Behavior

  • Lifestyle: digger or arboricolous

  • Activity: some are diurnal; night majority
  • food Mode: sheets, barks, fruits, small animal, lizards

Hutia of Cuba is active in the course of the day and one can see of them specimens which benefit from the sun on the branches or which excavate in the foliage whereas, like the majority of the species of hutias, smallest hutias is rather night.

Some hutias dig burrows but almost all the species are arboricolous, in particular Mesocapromys auritus and Mesocapromys will angelcabrerai which is put in ball in nests of sheets that they build in the mangroves.

As almost all the rodents, the hutias are social animals. They live in couple, family group or many groups, forming colonies and often divide their nest or their burrow.

Future of the species

Several species of Hutias are threatened of extinctions by the action of the man or of predatory imported by him on the islands of the Caribbean.

Because of their discrete life mode and their attracting aspect little, the hutias was studied little by the biologists and certain species were not seen alive since of the decades.

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