Solenodon paradoxus
Silhouette: Inessa Voet · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The Hispaniolan solenodon (Solenodon paradoxus), also known as the agouta, is a small, furry, shrew-like mammal endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (in the Dominican Republic and Haiti). Like other solenodons, it is a venomous, insect-eating animal that lives in burrows and is active at night. It is an elusive animal and was only first described in 1833; its numbers are stable in protected forests but it remains the focus of conservation efforts.
Its smaller sister species of the same genus, Marcano's solenodon (S. marconoi) became extinct after European colonization. The Hispaniolan solenodon and the rat-like Hispaniolan hutia live in the same habitats and are the only surviving mammals native to the island.
In 1833 the Russian Academy of Sciences received a new specimen from Haiti. Puzzled by the animal, curator Johann Friedrich von Brandt named it Solenodon paradoxus. (Solenodon means "grooved teeth".) No more information was known other than a relation to the Cuban solenodon (Atopogale cubana) discovered in 1861, and it was believed to be extinct. Addison Emery Verrill and Alpheus Hyatt Verrill rediscovered the animal in the Dominican Republic in 1907,... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jaragua National Park | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Haitian Solenodon sighting in Jaragua National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Haitian Solenodon in Jaragua National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–July and September–October, the lowest months. That is one of Jaragua National Park's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain against 120 mm in October.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Haitian Solenodon sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Jaragua National Park, in our data
Jaragua National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Haitian Solenodon sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Haitian Solenodon is recorded against all the mammals logged in Jaragua National Park (9 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
