a rodent endemic to us
Rodents make up the largest group of mammals in the world over 2773 living species according to the Mammal Diversity Database (2025). They range in size from the tiny Pygmy mouse to the Capybara which reaches the size of a pig and weighs up to 110lbs. Most rodent diversity is found in South America and 355 species are endemic to islands.
Prior to human colonization, the West Indies was home to a great variety of native rodents with rice rats and hutias being the most speciose types.
In fact, the earliest evidence of rodents in the West Indies are fossils dating back to the Oligocene (29.5 mya) in Puerto Rico. The West Indies was also home to one of the largest rodents on earth, a Giant hutia-like animal that lived on the islands of the Anguilla Bank in the northern Lesser Antilles known as the Amblyrhiza inundata. Sadly, most of the native rodents in the West Indies are now extinct, primarily due to factors such as climate change and human colonisation.
In The Bahamas, The Bahamian Hutia is the only non-volant rodent species endemic to the country. This species once had a much broader distribution across The Bahamas, being found on the islands of the Little and Great Bahama Banks, as well as islands in the southern Bahamas such as San Salvador, Acklins and Crooked Island, the East Plana Cays and the Samana Cays. It is believed that the extinction of this species across The Bahamas may have also led to the extinction of the Bahamian Giant Barn Owl, the largest species of Barn Owl in the New World. The hutia was a major food source for this meter tall bird of prey.
The remaining natural population of Bahamian Hutias is found on the East Plana Cays but recent research indicates that the East Plana Cay population, as well as the populations on Abaco and Crooked Island may have been from animals translocated by Lucayans who used them as a food source. In 1973 and 1981, Bahamian Hutias were translocated to Little Wax Cay and Wardrick Wells Cay in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park in hopes of assisting the populations and creating “insurance” populations for the species. Recent estimates indicate that the average population size on Wardrick Wells is 4,368 individuals, while the Little Wax Cay population is believed to be extirpated.
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Fabre, P.H., Vilstrup, J.T., Raghavan, M., Der Sarkissian, C., Willerslev, E., Douzery, E.J. and Orlando, L., 2014. Rodents of the Caribbean: origin and diversification of hutias unravelled by next-generation museomics. Biology letters, 10(7), p.20140266.
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Marivaux, L., Vélez‐Juarbe, J., Viñola López, L.W., Fabre, P.H., Pujos, F., Santos‐Mercado, H., Cruz, E.J., Grajales Pérez, A.M., Padilla, J., Vélez‐Rosado, K.I. and Cornée, J.J., 2021. An unpredicted ancient colonization of the West Indies by North American rodents: dental evidence of a geomorph from the early Oligocene of Puerto Rico. Papers in Palaeontology, 7(4), pp.2021-2039.
McFarlane, D.A., Lundberg, J.O.Y.C.E. and Maincent, G.I.L.L.E.S., 2014. New specimens of Amblyrhiza inundata (Rodentia: Caviomorpha) from the Middle Pleistocene of Saint Barthélemy, French West Indies. Caribbean Journal of Earth Science, 47, pp.15-19.
Oswald, J.A., Allen, J.M., LeFebvre, M.J., Stucky, B.J., Folk, R.A., Albury, N.A., Morgan, G.S., Guralnick, R.P. and Steadman, D.W., 2020. Ancient DNA and high-resolution chronometry reveal a long-term human role in the historical diversity and biogeography of the Bahamian hutia. Scientific Reports, 10(1), p.1373.
Vélez-Juarbe, J., Martin, T., Macphee, R.D. and Ortega-Ariza, D., 2014. The earliest Caribbean rodents: Oligocene caviomorphs from Puerto Rico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 34(1), pp.157-163.