 Only Desmarest's hutia and the prehensile-tailed hutia remain common and widespread; all other extant species are considered threatened by the IUCN.Their larger relatives, the giant hutias of the family Heptaxodontidae, are entirely extinct.Most species have a head-and-body length that ranges from and weigh less than , but Desmarest's hutia has a head-and-body length of and weighs .