Little Swan Island hutia


The Little Swan Island hutia is an extinct species of rodent that lived on the Swan Islands, off north-eastern Honduras in the Caribbean. It was a slow-moving, guinea-pig-like rodent and probably emerged from caves and limestone crevices to forage on bark, small twigs and leaves.
It may have been a subspecies of the Jamaican hutia, whose ancestors were carried to the island from Jamaica, 5000–7000 years ago. It was fairly common in the early 20th century, but disappeared after a severe hurricane in 1955, followed by the introduction of house cats to the island.