How many baby Virginia opossums are in a litter?
A Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) usually gives birth to around 8 babies.With 2 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 16 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 12 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 5 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 1.3 cm (0′ 1″). They are a member of the Didelphidae family (genus: Didelphis). An adult Virginia opossum grows up to a size of 40.2 cm (1′ 4″).
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 Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), commonly known as the North American opossum, is the only marsupial found north of Mexico. In the United States, the animal is typically referred to simply as a possum. It is a solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat. It is a successful opportunist. It is familiar to many North Americans as they frequently inhabit settled areas due to the associated proximity to food sources, notably trash cans.
Other animals of the family Didelphidae
Virginia opossum is a member of the Didelphidae, as are these animals:
- Little woolly mouse opossum raching a size of 13.7 cm (0′ 6″)
- Long-nosed short-tailed opossum weighting only 765 grams
- Lutrine opossum with 7 babies per pregnancy
- Bishop’s slender opossum raching a size of 10.3 cm (0′ 5″)
- Brazilian slender opossum weighting only 38 grams
- Woolly mouse opossum with 6 babies per pregnancy
- Alston’s mouse opossum weighting only 132 grams
- Water opossum with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Marajó short-tailed opossum raching a size of 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Chacoan pygmy opossum raching a size of 8.9 cm (0′ 4″)
Animals that share a litter size with Virginia opossum
Those animals also give birth to 8 babies at once:
- Southern long-nosed armadillo
- White-bellied woolly mouse opossum
- Campbell’s dwarf hamster
- Dusky antechinus
- Yellow-footed antechinus
- Brown rat
- Slender-tailed dunnart
- Grayish mouse opossum
- Cheesman’s gerbil
- Grayish mouse opossum
Animals that get as old as a Virginia opossum
Other animals that usually reach the age of 5 years:
- Dark kangaroo mouse with 5.42 years
- Mexican funnel-eared bat with 4.75 years
- Great gerbil with 4 years
- Prevost’s squirrel with 5.67 years
- Eastern barred bandicoot with 5.5 years
- Pallas’s pika with 4 years
- Northern grasshopper mouse with 5 years
- Tiger quoll with 5 years
- Brush-tailed phascogale with 5 years
- Northern common cuscus with 4 years
Animals with the same weight as a Virginia opossum
What other animals weight around 2.46 kg (5.41 lbs)?
- Central American agouti usually reaching 2.31 kgs (5.09 lbs)
- Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine usually reaching 2 kgs (4.41 lbs)
- Kalinowski’s agouti usually reaching 2.65 kgs (5.84 lbs)
- Leopard cat usually reaching 2.78 kgs (6.13 lbs)
- Common brown lemur usually reaching 2.38 kgs (5.25 lbs)
- Wedge-capped capuchin usually reaching 2.79 kgs (6.15 lbs)
- Long-tailed pangolin usually reaching 2.75 kgs (6.06 lbs)
- Cape genet usually reaching 2.07 kgs (4.56 lbs)
- Japanese hare usually reaching 2.53 kgs (5.58 lbs)
- Sunda stink badger usually reaching 2.5 kgs (5.51 lbs)