How many baby Bush vlei rats are in a litter?
A Bush vlei rat (Otomys unisulcatus) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 36 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 12 grams (0.03 lbs) and measure 7.1 cm (0′ 3″). They are a member of the Muridae family (genus: Otomys). An adult Bush vlei rat grows up to a size of 15.3 cm (0′ 7″).
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 bush vlei rat or Karoo bush rat (Myotomys unisulcatus formerly Otomys unisulcatus) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Namibia and South Africa. Its natural habitat is temperate shrubland. The Karoo rat uses behavioral adaptations to cope with the dry arid climate. It is a medium-sized rodent with a dark pellage on top and lighter underneath. It has light colored feet and a dark tail. The rat may have light colored fur around its eyes and the back of its ears.
Other animals of the family Muridae
Bush vlei rat is a member of the Muridae, as are these animals:
- Lesser tree mouse with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Peterson’s chinchilla mouse weighting only 83 grams
- Eastern chestnut mouse with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Definitive leaf-eared mouse weighting only 89 grams
- Red-nosed mouse with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Central rock rat weighting only 100 grams
- South African pouched mouse with 6 babies per pregnancy
- Whitehead’s spiny rat with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Gray leaf-eared mouse with 6 babies per pregnancy
- Gould’s mouse weighting only 49 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Bush vlei rat
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- Aardvark
- Rock cavy
- Tickell’s bat
- Davis’s round-eared bat
- Naked-rumped pouched bat
- Dwarf slit-faced bat
- Mountain gazelle
- Pygmy treeshrew
- Gray-backed sportive lemur
- Townsend’s mole
Animals with the same weight as a Bush vlei rat
What other animals weight around 103 grams (0.23 lbs)?
- Bush vlei rat weighting 102 grams
- Long-eared chipmunk weighting 83 grams
- Giant kangaroo rat weighting 114 grams
- Bartels’s spiny rat weighting 88 grams
- Romanian hamster weighting 97 grams
- Spotted ground squirrel weighting 107 grams
- Woolly mouse opossum weighting 107 grams
- Whiskered flying squirrel weighting 108 grams
- Dusky spiny tree-rat weighting 108 grams
- Greater spear-nosed bat weighting 91 grams
Animals with the same size as a Bush vlei rat
Also reaching around 15.3 cm (0′ 7″) in size do these animals:
- Desert woodrat gets as big as 16.3 cm (0′ 7″)
- Plains pocket gopher gets as big as 16.8 cm (0′ 7″)
- Ribboned rope squirrel gets as big as 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Lady Burton’s rope squirrel gets as big as 15.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Long-nosed paramelomys gets as big as 17 cm (0′ 7″)
- Dibbler gets as big as 14.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Hairy-tailed bolo mouse gets as big as 14.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Tete veld aethomys gets as big as 14.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Palawan soft-furred mountain rat gets as big as 14.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Northern flying squirrel gets as big as 16.1 cm (0′ 7″)