How many baby American minks are in a litter?
A American mink (Mustela vison) usually gives birth to around 4 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 51 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 8 grams (0.02 lbs) and measure 5 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Mustelidae family (genus: Mustela). An adult American mink grows up to a size of 36.6 cm (1′ 3″).
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 American mink (Neovison vison) is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe and South America. Because of range expansion, the American mink is classed as a least-concern species by the IUCN. Since the extinction of the sea mink, the American mink is the only extant member of the genus Neovison. The American mink is a carnivore that feeds on rodents, fish, crustaceans, frogs, and birds. In its introduced range in Europe it has been classified as an invasive species linked to declines in European mink, Pyrenean desman, and water vole populations. It is the animal most frequently farmed for its fur, exceeding the silver fox, sable, marten, and skunk in economic importance.
Other animals of the family Mustelidae
American mink is a member of the Mustelidae, as are these animals:
- Saharan striped polecat with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Smooth-coated otter with 3 babies per pregnancy
- American marten with 2 babies per pregnancy
- American hog-nosed skunk with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Marbled polecat with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Humboldt’s hog-nosed skunk with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Fisher (animal) with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Honey badger with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Amazon weasel weighting only 268 grams
- Southern river otter weighting around 7.5 kilograms (16.53 lbs)
Animals that share a litter size with American mink
Those animals also give birth to 4 babies at once:
- Hodgson’s brown-toothed shrew
- Camas pocket gopher
- Red-tailed chipmunk
- Culpeo
- Indian desert jird
- Sonoma chipmunk
- Hoary marmot
- White-nosed coati
- Tropical pocket gopher
- Thomas’s pine vole
Animals that get as old as a American mink
Other animals that usually reach the age of 10 years:
- Greater musky fruit bat with 8 years
- Fischer’s pygmy fruit bat with 10 years
- Tasmanian devil with 8.17 years
- Black-flanked rock-wallaby with 12 years
- Red-tailed chipmunk with 8 years
- Golden hamster with 10 years
- Quokka with 12 years
- Leadbeater’s possum with 11 years
- Saiga antelope with 12 years
- Jungle cat with 12 years
Animals with the same weight as a American mink
What other animals weight around 904 grams (1.99 lbs)?
- Common echymipera weighting 825 grams
- Long-nosed short-tailed opossum weighting 765 grams
- Namaqua slender mongoose weighting 750 grams
- Brown hairy dwarf porcupine weighting 736 grams
- Andean squirrel weighting 803 grams
- Conover’s tuco-tuco weighting 860 grams
- Black-capped squirrel monkey weighting 802 grams
- Great flying fox usually reaching 1.02 kgs (2.25 lbs)
- Montane guinea pig usually reaching 1 kgs (2.2 lbs)
- Cape gray mongoose weighting 791 grams
Animals with the same size as a American mink
Also reaching around 36.6 cm (1′ 3″) in size do these animals:
- Woodlark cuscus gets as big as 37.2 cm (1′ 3″)
- Weyland ringtail possum gets as big as 31 cm (1′ 1″)
- Tiger quoll gets as big as 42.7 cm (1′ 5″)
- Black-tailed prairie dog gets as big as 29.4 cm (1′ 0″)
- Patagonian weasel gets as big as 32.4 cm (1′ 1″)
- Guianan squirrel monkey gets as big as 32.2 cm (1′ 1″)
- Malayan weasel gets as big as 32.6 cm (1′ 1″)
- Tailless tenrec gets as big as 32.7 cm (1′ 1″)
- Wedge-capped capuchin gets as big as 40.4 cm (1′ 4″)
- Crowned lemur gets as big as 35.2 cm (1′ 2″)