How many baby Brown four-eyed opossums are in a litter?
A Brown four-eyed opossum (Metachirus nudicaudatus) usually gives birth to around 4 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 2 grams (0 lbs) and measure 1.5 cm (0′ 1″). They are a member of the Didelphidae family (genus: Metachirus). An adult Brown four-eyed opossum grows up to a size of 26.1 cm (0′ 11″).
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 brown four-eyed opossum (Metachirus nudicaudatus) is a pouchless marsupial of the family Didelphidae. It is found in different forested habitats of Central and South America, from Nicaragua to Paraguay and northern Argentina, including southeastern Colombia, western Brazil and eastern Peru and Bolivia, at elevations from sea level to 1500 m. It is the only recognized species in the genus Metachirus, but molecular phylogenetics studies suggest that it should probably be split into several species. Population densities are usually low, and it is uncommon in parts of Central America. A density of 25.6/km2 was reported near Manaus, Brazil. Its karyotype has 2n = 14 and FN = 24.It is a nocturnal, solitary, strongly terrestrial and omnivorous animal, feeding on fruits, small vertebrates and invertebrates.The brown four-eyed opossum builds nests made of leaves and twigs in tree branches or under rocks and logs. It is seasonally polyestrous and the litter size varies from one to nine.The white spot over each eye inspired the common name of “four-eyed opossum”. Its scaly tail is longer than its body.The opossum appears to be mostly insectivorous, though also consumes some types of fruit seeds, small vertebrate creatures like birds and reptiles and invertebrates like crayfish and snails. The brown four-eyed opossum is a host of the Acanthocephalan intestinal parasite Gigantorhynchus ortizi.
Other animals of the family Didelphidae
Brown four-eyed opossum is a member of the Didelphidae, as are these animals:
- Paraguayan fat-tailed mouse opossum weighting only 34 grams
- Grayish mouse opossum with 8 babies per pregnancy
- Long-nosed short-tailed opossum weighting only 765 grams
- Bushy-tailed opossum weighting only 114 grams
- Delicate slender opossum with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Dorothy’s slender opossum weighting only 37 grams
- Ihering’s three-striped opossum weighting only 112 grams
- Chestnut-striped opossum weighting only 45 grams
- Common opossum with 7 babies per pregnancy
- Agile gracile opossum with 12 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Brown four-eyed opossum
Those animals also give birth to 4 babies at once:
- Allen’s chipmunk
- Llanos long-nosed armadillo
- Great Basin pocket mouse
- Chestnut white-bellied rat
- Shrew gymnure
- Side-striped jackal
- Shrew gymnure
- Utah prairie dog
- Sody’s tree rat
- Red-cheeked dunnart
Animals that get as old as a Brown four-eyed opossum
Other animals that usually reach the age of 4 years:
- Lesser mole-rat with 4.5 years
- European hamster with 4 years
- Guyenne spiny rat with 4.75 years
- Hylaeamys megacephalus with 3.75 years
- Southwestern water vole with 3.5 years
- Woolley’s false antechinus with 4 years
- Yellow-necked mouse with 4 years
- Brants’s climbing mouse with 3.25 years
- Giant golden mole with 4 years
- Banded hare-wallaby with 4 years
Animals with the same weight as a Brown four-eyed opossum
What other animals weight around 365 grams (0.8 lbs)?
- Lesser bilby weighting 364 grams
- Lowland ringtail possum weighting 300 grams
- Black and rufous elephant shrew weighting 423 grams
- Guayaquil squirrel weighting 433 grams
- Richardson’s ground squirrel weighting 325 grams
- Santarem marmoset weighting 375 grams
- Namaqua dune mole-rat weighting 389 grams
- Sulawesi giant rat weighting 325 grams
- Black-tufted marmoset weighting 340 grams
- Kinabalu squirrel weighting 324 grams
Animals with the same size as a Brown four-eyed opossum
Also reaching around 26.1 cm (0′ 11″) in size do these animals:
- Hispaniolan hutia gets as big as 30 cm (1′ 0″)
- European hedgehog gets as big as 23.7 cm (0′ 10″)
- Forest giant squirrel gets as big as 29.1 cm (1′ 0″)
- Red-legged sun squirrel gets as big as 23.8 cm (0′ 10″)
- Giant white-tailed rat gets as big as 28.3 cm (1′ 0″)
- Gunnison’s prairie dog gets as big as 27.9 cm (0′ 11″)
- Southern Palawan tree squirrel gets as big as 21 cm (0′ 9″)
- Dinagat bushy-tailed cloud rat gets as big as 26.5 cm (0′ 11″)
- North African hedgehog gets as big as 21.4 cm (0′ 9″)
- Vogelkop ringtail possum gets as big as 21.6 cm (0′ 9″)