Mammals, Conservation Efforts for 715 Dominican Republic, possibly leading to population extinctions in small habitat patches near human habitation Conservation Efforts Figure Picture of the Hispaniolan hutia Plagiodontia aedium showing off its arboreal skills This species can be found in a range of habitats from mangroves and coastal dry scrubland right up to montane cloud forest Picture by Jorge Brocca, Sociedad Ornitolo´gica de la Hispaniola opportunistically hunted (Turvey et al., 2008) Other major threats to the solenodons and hutias since European colonization of the Caribbean are habitat loss and predation or competition by invasive mammals In some countries, habitat loss over the past few centuries has been severe For example, only 3% of Haiti’s forests now remain, which has undoubtedly resulted in massive range contraction of the Hispaniolan solenodon and hutia within this country Although much more forest remains in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Jamaica, it is highly fragmented, isolating small populations of both hutias and solenodons and making them more vulnerable to other threats Since Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in the 1490s, a number of nonnative mammals such as brown and black rat, feral cat, and dog, and small Indian mongoose, have been introduced into the region with devastating consequences for biodiversity in general, and Caribbean land mammals in particular The threat of invasive species is particularly pressing for those hutia species which are restricted to small islands around Cuba This is highlighted by the extinction of the Little Swan hutia in the 1950s following the introduction of cats onto Little Swan Island, Honduras However, even for more wide-ranging species, invasive mammals may be having a long-term detrimental impact which is typically difficult to demonstrate For example, there is evidence of widespread predation of Hispaniolan solenodon by domestic dogs in the increasingly fragmented forests of the Conservation of the solenodons and hutias requires a combination of habitat protection, invasive species control and species-specific measures, such as raising awareness of the impacts of domestic dogs on these species in order to change husbandry practices and reduce predation rates In the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Jamaica many of the key habitats for solenodons and hutias fall within protected areas However, management effectiveness of these areas is patchy with some high-profile national parks suffering from extensive illegal timber extraction, agricultural encroachment, and fires There are also likely to be many undocumented populations of solenodons and hutias occupying smaller patches of habitat that occur outside of protected areas, which also require protection The control of invasive species, including their eradication from smaller islands, is a conservation priority in the Caribbean and it is urgently needed to save the most threatened hutia species in the islands off the coast of Cuba For example, the Isla De La Juventud Tree hutia (Mysateles meridionalis), restricted to the Isle of Pines in Cuba, has declined dramatically through hunting and the impacts of rats This species has not been seen by scientists in over 25 years and is likely to be on the brink of extinction With possibly four hutia species on Cuban islets numbering fewer than 250 individuals, captive breeding represents an important tool for saving these species Solenodons are difficult to keep and breed in captivity but hutias have proved more amenable, with Desmarest’s hutia and the Jamaican hutia widely kept by zoos Ingraham’s hutia in the Bahamas has been captively bred and successfully translocated from its last remaining site of East Plana Cay to other cays in the archipelago in order to reduce its extinction risk Finally, another major threat to the Caribbean land mammals is a lack of awareness regionally and globally of their diversity, importance, and conservation requirements They are a classic example of species which have been largely overlooked by the international conservation community and, if they are to be saved, it is vital that they are pushed up the conservation agenda Cheetah and African Wild Dogs Background The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is Africa’s most threatened large cat The species has declined dramatically over the past century Historically the cheetah was widely distributed throughout Africa, except for the central and western forest belts, and east through to India Today the species has completely disappeared from most of its Asian range, only tiny populations remain in north and west Africa, and its main strongholds are concentrated in southern and eastern Africa (IUCN/SSC, 2007; IUCN, 2010) The species is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN, with the Saharan and Asiatic subspecies listed as Critically Endangered, the latter persisting in a small remnant population in Iran Cheetah are also listed on Appendix in