How many baby American shrew moles are in a litter?
A American shrew mole (Neurotrichus gibbsii) usually gives birth to around 2 babies.With 1 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 2 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 24 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 499 grams (1.1 lbs) and measure 2.3 cm (0′ 1″). They are a member of the Talpidae family (genus: Neurotrichus). An adult American shrew mole grows up to a size of 7.8 cm (0′ 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 American shrew mole (Neurotrichus gibbsii) is the smallest species of mole. It is the only living member of the genus Neurotrichus and the tribe Neurotrichini. It is also known as Gibb’s shrew mole and least shrew mole. It is not closely related to the Asian shrew mole (Uropsilus in Urotrichini). The reason that it is called a “shrew mole” instead of being called either a “shrew” or a “mole” is because of its fur, which is a characteristic of shrews and its large head and heavy dentition, which is characteristic of moles.
Other animals of the family Talpidae
American shrew mole is a member of the Talpidae, as are these animals:
- Japanese mountain mole with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Chinese shrew mole weighting only 16 grams
- Spanish mole weighting only 48 grams
- Pyrenean desman with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Inquisitive shrew mole raching a size of 7.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Townsend’s mole with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Star-nosed mole with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Blind mole weighting only 70 grams
- Sado mole with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Small Japanese mole with 3 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with American shrew mole
Those animals also give birth to 2 babies at once:
- White-bellied mosaic-tailed rat
- Trinidad spiny pocket mouse
- Dark-footed mouse shrew
- Western barbastelle
- Asian black bear
- Ashy chinchilla rat
- Smith’s bush squirrel
- Greater tree mouse
- Plantain squirrel
- Fawn hopping mouse
Animals with the same weight as a American shrew mole
What other animals weight around 9 grams (0.02 lbs)?
- Brants’s climbing mouse weighting 10 grams
- Darling’s horseshoe bat weighting 8 grams
- Brazilian brown bat weighting 9 grams
- Toad mouse weighting 8 grams
- Fog shrew weighting 8 grams
- Short-tailed shrew tenrec weighting 9 grams
- Long-legged myotis weighting 8 grams
- Cave myotis weighting 9 grams
- Black-gilded pipistrelle weighting 10 grams
- Honey possum weighting 9 grams
Animals with the same size as a American shrew mole
Also reaching around 7.8 cm (0′ 4″) in size do these animals:
- Hazel dormouse gets as big as 7.6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Moss-forest blossom bat gets as big as 6.9 cm (0′ 3″)
- Savanna path shrew gets as big as 8.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- New Holland mouse gets as big as 8.2 cm (0′ 4″)
- Serotine bat gets as big as 6.8 cm (0′ 3″)
- Western harvest mouse gets as big as 6.9 cm (0′ 3″)
- Balochistan gerbil gets as big as 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- Ghost-faced bat gets as big as 6.6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Eastern harvest mouse gets as big as 6.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Iberian shrew gets as big as 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)