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Jamaican hutia - GEOCAPROMYS BROWNII
Endangered
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Hutia": "Hutia" is unknown.
Location: The island of Jamaica in the Caribbean.
Habitat: Terrestrial. Forests and rocky areas.
Description: It is stout and robust, with powerful legs, a heavy snout, and short ears. The fur is thick, short, and dark reddish or blackish brown above, and dusky-brown underneath. Length of head and body is about eighteen inches, with the tail adding only a couple more inches. It can weigh up to eleven pounds or more.
Behavior: This nocturnal hutia feeds on roots, bark, shoots, fruit, and foliage of many different plants. Its gait is usually waddling, but it can run fast when startled. It can jump and climb well, but spends most of its time on the ground. It is basically solitary, but sometimes it is found in small family groups up to a maximum of ten other hutias. Because of its secretive habits and its habitat in areas of an abundance of natural crevices, it is still relatively plentiful despite intensive hunting in earlier years, which continues somewhat even today.
Reproduction: It bears one or two (and rarely three) young after about four months of gestation. Most females bear two litters a year. The young are quite precocious, and are able to move about and eat solid food within two days of birth.
Note: The hutia occurs only on islands in the Caribbean region, and are rather diverse. There are twelve living species in this family, and another 28 species have recently become extinct, largely because of hunting by humans.
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