I saw a Bahamian hutia at this place in 1983 Ardastra Gardens It was very sub par. According to their site they no longer keep any. Its the only one I've ever seen As an aside the famous marching flamingos was a guy chasing a flock from behind. Jesus.
I remember the Cuban hutias at Regent's Park and those at Colchester more recently: there are some photos in the Gallery (none of which are mine). I think they are interesting animals and quite showy too, so I am surprised that they are not seen more often in zoos. In the 1970s and '80s, Jersey built up a colony of Jamaican hutias, which are much smaller and more nocturnal - at least they were kept in nocturnal conditions in Jersey and in the Clore (if I remember correctly). They were eventually sent back to Jamaica for reintroduction. With zoogeographical exhibits becoming so common, one day a zoo might construct a Cuban House with hutias, plus amazon parrot and conure, grassquit, boa, crocodile, knight anole and curly-tailed lizard. Of course there are other interesting species from Cuba too, which might interest an ambitious zoo, including the black-tailed and the prehensile-tailed hutias, the solenodon and the tiny bee humming bird, to name but a few.
Funny that you mention this. As a teenager, I "created" a tropical themed zoo with a map and a species list. This week I came across a part of the species list on an old cd-rom. My zoo included an Antillean House with Cuban hutia, Cuban amazon parrot, Jamaican crested quail-dove, Cuban slender boa, knight anole and Hispaniola rhinoceros iguana. I never saw such a themed house in a real zoo though.
