Canis lupus hominis

Watch this video.

The presentation is by Jonathan Downes, director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology.

I pretty much agree with his theory that some of the victims were actual victims of mongoose predation. Puerto Rico does have some small Indian mongooses.  The ants then removed their livers which contained most of their blood.

However, his theory about the porcupine, I cannot exactly accept. There once was a pallid hairy dwarf porcupine or Lesser Antillean porcupine. These are short-squilled New World porcupines, and they aren’t as closely related to the Hodgson’s porcupine of Hong Kong.

The palid hairy dwarf porcupine was similar to this Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine--short spined and highly arboreal.

The Hodgsons is now classified with the Himalayan or Malayan species. It does have that destinctly spiky appearance with long barbs coming off its back. It lacks the typical crest of most Old World porcupine species.

The evolution of similar features on New World and Old World porcupines is a good example of parallel evolution.  The ancestors of both of these types of porcupines were related, but the two evolved their quills through different experiences with natural selection.

Now, what do I think could be taking down the banana trees in Puerto Rico?

Most islands in the West Indies have a native rodent on them called hutias. These are relatively large creatures that could possibly take down a banana tree.

Demarest's hutia is native to Cuba. It can weigh 15 to 20 pounds.

Now, Puerto Rico officially has no hutia species living on it. Historically, it has had at least two different species. One was evident during the early days of colonization until about ten years ago. It was called the Puerto Rican hutia, but it was also found on Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti). It officially went extinct in the 1990’s, so it is very possible that a relic population of Puerto Rican hutias still exists on the island.

The other species of hutia native to Puerto Rico was the Puerto Rican giant hutia. It went extinct following the last Pleistocene. Its maximum weight was over 400 pounds. I somehow doubt that this is the species of hutia that’s tearing down the banana trees.

Now what about the spiky appearance?

Well, look at this Hispaniolan hutia. This is the closest relative of the Puerto Rican species, and it has a kind of spiky appearance on its back. Its shaggy hairy looks a little bit like a porcupine.

Further, this Cuban hutia has a somewhat spiky appearance. If this species got wet, I bet it would look even spikier.

Not only that, American soldiers stationed at Guatanamo, Cuba, have a name for the Cuban  or Demarest’s hutia. They call them “Cuban banana rats.”

However, they don’t normally eat bananas. Their fecal matter is in the shape of a banana. However, they do eat fruit.

So it is very possible that the Puerto Rican hutia is alive and raiding the banana plantations, and that species could be the spiked rodent.  Or it could be another species of hutia that is currently unknown to science.

Mr. Downes has a very rational explanation of the chupacabra phenomenon. I am skeptical of an extant long-quilled porcupine in Puerto Rico, but I think the hutia hypothesis is worth considering.