How many baby Gray-bellied caenolestids are in a litter?
A Gray-bellied caenolestid (Caenolestes caniventer) usually gives birth to around 2 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 100 grams (0.22 lbs) and measure 7.2 cm (0′ 3″). They are a member of the Caenolestidae family (genus: Caenolestes). An adult Gray-bellied caenolestid grows up to a size of 12.1 cm (0′ 5″).
To have a reference: Humans obviously usually have a litter size of one ;). Their babies are in the womb of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks) and reach an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). They weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual, and reach an average age of 75 years.
The gray-bellied caenolestid (Caenolestes caniventer), or grey-bellied shrew opossum, is a shrew opossum found in humid, temperate forests and moist grasslands of western Ecuador and northwestern Peru. It was first described by American zoologist Harold Elmer Anthony in 1921. Little is known about the behavior of the gray-bellied caenolestid. It appears to be terrestrial (land-living) and crepuscular (active around twilight) or nocturnal (active at night). Diet consists of invertebrate larvae, small vertebrates and plant material. The IUCN classifies the gray-bellied caenolestid as near threatened.
Other animals of the family Caenolestidae
Gray-bellied caenolestid is a member of the Caenolestidae, as are these animals:
- Andean caenolestid weighting only 47 grams
- Dusky caenolestid with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Long-nosed caenolestid weighting only 21 grams
- Northern caenolestid weighting only 31 grams
- Incan caenolestid weighting only 23 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Gray-bellied caenolestid
Those animals also give birth to 2 babies at once:
- Red acouchi
- Reindeer
- Red hocicudo
- Fawn hopping mouse
- Javan mongoose
- Sikkim mountain vole
- Long-tailed pygmy possum
- Mayor’s mouse
- Slender rat
- Saiga antelope
Animals with the same weight as a Gray-bellied caenolestid
What other animals weight around 40 grams (0.09 lbs)?
- Rufous-bellied bolo mouse weighting 32 grams
- Hairy fruit-eating bat weighting 40 grams
- California mouse weighting 42 grams
- Eldorado broad-nosed bat weighting 35 grams
- Chiruromys lamia weighting 47 grams
- Defua rat weighting 43 grams
- Diadem leaf-nosed bat weighting 46 grams
- Moupin pika weighting 35 grams
- Aztec mouse weighting 34 grams
- Guajira mouse opossum weighting 46 grams
Animals with the same size as a Gray-bellied caenolestid
Also reaching around 12.1 cm (0′ 5″) in size do these animals:
- Northern three-striped opossum gets as big as 10.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Short-snouted elephant shrew gets as big as 11.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Marajó short-tailed opossum gets as big as 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Narrow-faced kangaroo rat gets as big as 12.6 cm (0′ 5″)
- Long-tailed pygmy possum gets as big as 9.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- Bishop’s slender opossum gets as big as 10.3 cm (0′ 5″)
- Altiplano grass mouse gets as big as 9.7 cm (0′ 4″)
- Mittendorf’s striped grass mouse gets as big as 11.1 cm (0′ 5″)
- Pinheiro’s slender opossum gets as big as 10.2 cm (0′ 5″)
- Beach vole gets as big as 12.7 cm (0′ 5″)