Growing to about 60 cm (2 ft), it normally lives in pairs and feeds on leaves, fruit, bark and sometimes small animals.

It is the largest living hutia (subfamily Capromyinae), a group of rodents native to the Caribbean that are mostly endangered or extinct.

Desmarest's hutia remains widespread throughout its range, though one subspecies (C. p. lewisi) native to the nearby Cayman Islands went extinct shortly after European colonization in the 1500s.

In the mountainous areas of eastern Cuba, numbers of Desmarest's hutia are decreasing.

An extinct subspecies, C. p. lewisi, formerly lived in the Cayman Islands before it was wiped out shortly after European colonization.

[3] This subspecies may have been the subject of a report by Francis Drake when he visited the islands, in which he spoke of "little beast-like cats" and "coneys" throughout the area.

[5] Desmarest's hutias normally live in pairs, but can be found individually or in small groups.

Hutias were traditionally hunted for food in Cuba as their flesh was agreeable and their size meant they provided a substantial meal.

[6] The Wild Animals Protection Act of 1968 made it illegal to hunt or kill hutias without a permit from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.