How many baby Cape elephant shrews are in a litter?
A Cape elephant shrew (Elephantulus edwardii) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 11 grams (0.02 lbs) and measure 8 cm (0′ 4″). They are a member of the Macroscelididae family (genus: Elephantulus). An adult Cape elephant shrew grows up to a size of 11.9 cm (0′ 5″).
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 Cape elephant shrew, Cape rock elephant shrew, or Cape sengi (Elephantulus edwardii) is a species of elephant shrew in the family Macroscelididae. It is endemic to South Africa. Its natural habitat is rocky areas. E. edwardii has been observed to be a non-flying mammalian pollinator of the Pagoda Lily (Whiteheadia bifolia). The Cape elephant shrew uses its long slender tongue to feed on the Pagoda lily’s nectar while getting the lily’s pollen on its long nose. The Cape elephant shrew is not closely related to other species of shrews and to rodents such as mice.
Other animals of the family Macroscelididae
Cape elephant shrew is a member of the Macroscelididae, as are these animals:
- Black and rufous elephant shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Eastern rock elephant shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Four-toed elephant shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Macroscelides proboscideus with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Golden-rumped elephant shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Dusky elephant shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Somali elephant shrew weighting only 32 grams
- Short-snouted elephant shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Dusky-footed elephant shrew weighting only 57 grams
- Rufous elephant shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Cape elephant shrew
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- Northern bottlenose whale
- Harbor seal
- Lesser spot-nosed monkey
- Rüppell’s broad-nosed bat
- Puna mouse
- Least pipistrelle
- Neotropical pygmy squirrel
- Ribbon seal
- Monk saki
- Smoky pocket gopher
Animals with the same weight as a Cape elephant shrew
What other animals weight around 49 grams (0.11 lbs)?
- Capricorn leaf-eared mouse weighting 50 grams
- Moss-forest rat weighting 45 grams
- Jamaican fruit bat weighting 42 grams
- Indian roundleaf bat weighting 44 grams
- Mittendorf’s striped grass mouse weighting 41 grams
- Arrow flying squirrel weighting 49 grams
- Andean leaf-eared mouse weighting 53 grams
- Ernst Mayr’s water rat weighting 42 grams
- Zygodontomys brevicauda weighting 52 grams
- Flat-headed vole weighting 50 grams
Animals with the same size as a Cape elephant shrew
Also reaching around 11.9 cm (0′ 5″) in size do these animals:
- Prince Demidoff’s bushbaby gets as big as 12 cm (0′ 5″)
- Papua grassland mosaic-tailed rat gets as big as 10.4 cm (0′ 5″)
- Himalayan striped squirrel gets as big as 10.4 cm (0′ 5″)
- Mindanao mountain rat gets as big as 12.8 cm (0′ 6″)
- Alexander’s bush squirrel gets as big as 11.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Gray-footed chipmunk gets as big as 13.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Namib brush-tailed gerbil gets as big as 10.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Mexican mouse opossum gets as big as 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Yucatan deer mouse gets as big as 10 cm (0′ 4″)
- Marajó short-tailed opossum gets as big as 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)