How many baby Brandt’s hedgehogs are in a litter?
A Brandt’s hedgehog (Hemiechinus hypomelas) usually gives birth to around 3 babies.With 1 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 3 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 9 grams (0.02 lbs) and measure 5.5 cm (0′ 3″). They are a member of the Erinaceidae family (genus: Hemiechinus). An adult Brandt’s hedgehog grows up to a size of 20.7 cm (0′ 9″).
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.
Brandt’s hedgehog (Paraechinus hypomelas) is a species of desert hedgehog native to parts of the Middle East and Central Asia. Brandt’s hedgehog is approximately the size of the West European hedgehog (about 500–1,000 g in weight and 25 cm in length), but has distinctively large ears similar to the long-eared hedgehog and is a much faster runner due to lighter (but still superior to the long-eared hedgehog) needle protection. It is a fast runner, but, unlike the long-eared hedgehog, predominantly nocturnal and uses cuddling tactic more often, although still employing “jumping” attack.Brandt’s hedgehog prefers arid desert areas and mountains. It often uses natural shelter, although it is still capable of digging dens when absolutely needed. It hibernates during colder weather.Its common name derives from its having first been described by Johann Friedrich von Brandt, a director of the Zoological Department at the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences.There are multiple subspecies of Brandt’s hedgehog; known as Paraechinus hypomelas hypomelas, Paraechinus hypomelas blanfordi, Paraechinus hypomelas seniculus, and the Paraechinus hypomelas niger. These variations of Brandt’s hedgehog arose due to allosteric isolation thousands of years ago. Glacial activity formed a land bridge to the islands of Hengam, Larak, and Qeshm, just off the coast of Iran. About 15,000 years ago, sea levels rose again, isolating the species from the mainland. Over time, size and color differences between the different groups began to appear, creating the different types of subspecies.
Other animals of the family Erinaceidae
Brandt’s hedgehog is a member of the Erinaceidae, as are these animals:
- Moonrat with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Four-toed hedgehog with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Southern African hedgehog with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Shrew gymnure with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Long-eared hedgehog with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Indian long-eared hedgehog with 3 babies per pregnancy
- European hedgehog with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Indian hedgehog with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Short-tailed gymnure with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Brandt’s hedgehog with 3 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Brandt’s hedgehog
Those animals also give birth to 3 babies at once:
- Guinea pig
- Russian desman
- Blanford’s jerboa
- Sumichrast’s harvest mouse
- Zacatecan deer mouse
- Dark-tailed tree rat
- Dusky caenolestid
- Ring-tailed ground squirrel
- Short-nosed harvest mouse
- Greater hedgehog tenrec
Animals with the same weight as a Brandt’s hedgehog
What other animals weight around 213 grams (0.47 lbs)?
- Nectomys rattus weighting 249 grams
- Townsend’s ground squirrel weighting 207 grams
- Ontong Java flying fox weighting 232 grams
- Eastern rat weighting 230 grams
- Reddish tuco-tuco weighting 173 grams
- Douglas squirrel weighting 225 grams
- Sierra Madre ground squirrel weighting 207 grams
- Brush-tailed rabbit rat weighting 175 grams
- Nelson’s woodrat weighting 198 grams
- Big-eared woodrat weighting 225 grams
Animals with the same size as a Brandt’s hedgehog
Also reaching around 20.7 cm (0′ 9″) in size do these animals:
- Mountain weasel gets as big as 24.4 cm (0′ 10″)
- Maxomys baeodon gets as big as 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Blazed Luzon shrew-rat gets as big as 19.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Stein’s rat gets as big as 17.1 cm (0′ 7″)
- Red-bellied marsupial shrew gets as big as 17.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- Island mouse gets as big as 20.8 cm (0′ 9″)
- Solomon’s naked-backed fruit bat gets as big as 17.4 cm (0′ 7″)
- Basilan flying squirrel gets as big as 24.8 cm (0′ 10″)
- American red squirrel gets as big as 18.8 cm (0′ 8″)
- Horse-tailed squirrel gets as big as 22.8 cm (0′ 9″)