How many baby Big-eared opossums are in a litter?
A Big-eared opossum (Didelphis aurita) usually gives birth to around 6 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 5 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 3.4 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Didelphidae family (genus: Didelphis). An adult Big-eared opossum grows up to a size of 11.7 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 big-eared opossum (Didelphis aurita) also known as a saruê is an opossum species from South America. It is found in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.This species, which was considered a population of the common opossum (D. marsupialis) for some time, was originally described as D. azarae by Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1824, but this name was incorrectly given to the white-eared opossum (D. albiventris) for over 160 years. As such, the name azarae has been abandoned.
Other animals of the family Didelphidae
Big-eared opossum is a member of the Didelphidae, as are these animals:
- Marajó short-tailed opossum raching a size of 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Woolly mouse opossum with 6 babies per pregnancy
- Brown-eared woolly opossum becoming 5 years old
- Common fat-tailed mouse opossum weighting only 28 grams
- Osgood’s short-tailed opossum weighting only 112 grams
- Red mouse opossum weighting only 63 grams
- Handley’s slender opossum weighting only 30 grams
- Long-nosed short-tailed opossum weighting only 765 grams
- Dusky slender opossum with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Aceramarca gracile opossum weighting only 20 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Big-eared opossum
Those animals also give birth to 6 babies at once:
- Raccoon dog
- Arctic ground squirrel
- Townsend’s pocket gopher
- Muskrat
- Gray leaf-eared mouse
- Eligmodontia typus
- Common shrew
- Alaskan hare
- Arctic shrew
- Brush-tailed phascogale
Animals with the same weight as a Big-eared opossum
What other animals weight around 1.11 kg (2.44 lbs)?
- Rothschild’s woolly rat usually reaching 1.16 kgs (2.56 lbs)
- Common opossum usually reaching 1.14 kgs (2.51 lbs)
- Bristle-spined rat usually reaching 1.3 kgs (2.87 lbs)
- Cream-coloured giant squirrel usually reaching 1.16 kgs (2.56 lbs)
- Chinese ferret-badger weighting 939 grams
- Hispaniolan hutia usually reaching 1.27 kgs (2.8 lbs)
- Indian giant squirrel usually reaching 1.06 kgs (2.34 lbs)
- Northern olingo usually reaching 1.2 kgs (2.65 lbs)
- Herbert River ringtail possum usually reaching 1.1 kgs (2.43 lbs)
- Desert rat-kangaroo weighting 929 grams