The Jamaican Coney is a terrestrial land mammal found in the rocky, forested areas of Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

. It is also known as the Jamaican Hutia and is endemic to the Island.

It is related to the hutia

Hutia

Hutias are moderately large cavy-like rodents of the family Capromyidae that inhabit the Caribbean Islands. They range in size from , and can weigh up to . Twenty species of hutia have been identified, and half may be extinct. They resemble the nutria in some respects...

s and more distantly to guinea pig

Guinea pig

The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...

s. It is the only extant native land mammal on Jamaica besides bats.

Description

The Jamaican Coney is reddish brown in color and ranges in size from about 330 to 445 mm in length. It has the smallest tail of all the species in the genus (approximately 45mm). They have large heads, the largest in the genus and this gives them a squat appearance. They weigh between 1 and 2 kg.

Reproduction

The female reaches sexual maturity in about 365 days. The average gestation period is 123 days. There are usually 2 offspring per litter.