How many baby Gilbert’s potoroos are in a litter?
A Gilbert’s potoroo (Potorous gilbertii) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 1 grams (0 lbs) and measure 4 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Potoroidae family (genus: Potorous). An adult Gilbert’s potoroo grows up to a size of 34.9 cm (1′ 2″).
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.
Gilbert’s potoroo or ngilkat (Potorous gilbertii) is Australia’s most endangered marsupial and one of the world’s rarest critically endangered mammals. It is a small nocturnal macropod which lives in small groups. It has long hind feet and front feet with curved claws, which it uses to dig for food. Its body has large amounts of fur, which helps with insulation, and its fur ranges between brown and grey, the colour fading on its belly. This potoroo has a long, thin snout curving downward that it uses to smell its surroundings; this trait is common in all potoroo species. Its eyes appear to bulge out of its face and look as though they are on an angle, and its ears are almost invisible, buried under thick fur. Male and female body types are similar and are both within the same size range. Adult females range in weight from 708–1205 g (including pouch young where present), whereas adult males range in weight from 845–1200 g.The current estimated population is a sparse seventy individuals. It was thought to be extinct until its rediscovery in 1994. The only naturally located population is found in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve in Western Australia, where they co-exist with quokkas (Setonix brachyurus). Small populations are also being established at Bald Island and Michaelmas Island.
Other animals of the family Potoroidae
Gilbert’s potoroo is a member of the Potoroidae, as are these animals:
- Woylie with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Boodie with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Broad-faced potoroo weighting only 499 grams
- Desert rat-kangaroo with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Musky rat-kangaroo with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Long-footed potoroo with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Long-nosed potoroo with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Rufous rat-kangaroo with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Eastern bettong with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Northern bettong with 1 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Gilbert’s potoroo
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- Blue monkey
- Leschenault’s rousette
- Lesser horseshoe bat
- Leadbeater’s possum
- Parti-coloured bat
- Banana pipistrelle
- Chimpanzee
- Greater bamboo lemur
- Mountain cuscus
- Black giant squirrel
Animals with the same weight as a Gilbert’s potoroo
What other animals weight around 1.57 kg (3.46 lbs)?
- Yarkand hare usually reaching 1.47 kgs (3.24 lbs)
- Southern viscacha usually reaching 1.54 kgs (3.4 lbs)
- Black-footed cat usually reaching 1.36 kgs (3 lbs)
- Seven-banded armadillo usually reaching 1.53 kgs (3.37 lbs)
- Brazilian three-banded armadillo usually reaching 1.49 kgs (3.28 lbs)
- Snowshoe hare usually reaching 1.57 kgs (3.46 lbs)
- Gambian pouched rat usually reaching 1.27 kgs (2.8 lbs)
- Greater glider usually reaching 1.26 kgs (2.78 lbs)
- Ornate cuscus usually reaching 1.79 kgs (3.95 lbs)
- Common kusimanse usually reaching 1.39 kgs (3.06 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Gilbert’s potoroo
Also reaching around 34.9 cm (1′ 2″) in size do these animals:
- Giant Atlantic tree-rat gets as big as 28.1 cm (1′ 0″)
- Tufted ground squirrel gets as big as 40.6 cm (1′ 4″)
- Southern needle-clawed bushbaby gets as big as 30 cm (1′ 0″)
- Greater bamboo lemur gets as big as 37 cm (1′ 3″)
- Raffray’s bandicoot gets as big as 34.6 cm (1′ 2″)
- Clara’s echymipera gets as big as 34.1 cm (1′ 2″)
- Desert cottontail gets as big as 32.5 cm (1′ 1″)
- Greater bilby gets as big as 37.5 cm (1′ 3″)
- African striped weasel gets as big as 30.4 cm (1′ 0″)
- Cuban solenodon gets as big as 34.9 cm (1′ 2″)