How many baby Chinese mole shrews are in a litter?
A Chinese mole shrew (Anourosorex squamipes) usually gives birth to around 2 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 3 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 3.7 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Soricidae family (genus: Anourosorex). An adult Chinese mole shrew grows up to a size of 9.4 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 Chinese mole shrew (Anourosorex squamipes) is one of four species of Asian mole shrew in the genus Anourosorex.Despite the name, it is found not only in China but also in northeast India, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Like all other species of the genus Anourosorex, the Chinese mole shrew is fossorial, and is found in montane forests.In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control reported this species can carry a version of the hantavirus which is genetically distinct from rodent hantavirus and new to science.
Other animals of the family Soricidae
Chinese mole shrew is a member of the Soricidae, as are these animals:
- Lesser striped shrew raching a size of 6.8 cm (0′ 3″)
- Tien Shan shrew raching a size of 6.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- San Cristobal shrew weighting only 7 grams
- Taiga shrew with 7 babies per pregnancy
- Saussure’s shrew weighting only 4 grams
- Elegant water shrew weighting only 38 grams
- Madagascan pygmy shrew weighting only 2 grams
- Greater stripe-backed shrew with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Fraser’s musk shrew with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Savanna dwarf shrew weighting only 6 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Chinese mole shrew
Those animals also give birth to 2 babies at once:
- Tome’s spiny rat
- Durango chipmunk
- Zempoaltepec
- Common treeshrew
- Chestnut tree mouse
- Red hocicudo
- Turbo shrew
- African black shrew
- White-footed tamarin
- Sclater’s golden mole
Animals with the same weight as a Chinese mole shrew
What other animals weight around 20 grams (0.04 lbs)?
- Halcyon horseshoe bat weighting 18 grams
- Pygmy rock mouse weighting 20 grams
- Parantechinus bilarni weighting 23 grams
- Agile gracile opossum weighting 22 grams
- Andean vesper mouse weighting 20 grams
- White-bellied yellow bat weighting 20 grams
- Egyptian free-tailed bat weighting 17 grams
- Lesser Asiatic yellow bat weighting 20 grams
- Least forest mouse weighting 21 grams
- Long-tongued nectar bat weighting 16 grams
Animals with the same size as a Chinese mole shrew
Also reaching around 9.4 cm (0′ 4″) in size do these animals:
- Panama slender opossum gets as big as 11.1 cm (0′ 5″)
- San Diego pocket mouse gets as big as 8.3 cm (0′ 4″)
- Mount Apo forest mouse gets as big as 10.9 cm (0′ 5″)
- Bushy-tailed hairy-footed gerbil gets as big as 9.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- Ethiopian epauletted fruit bat gets as big as 9.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- Swift fruit bat gets as big as 10.4 cm (0′ 5″)
- Neotropical pygmy squirrel gets as big as 11.1 cm (0′ 5″)
- Alpine chipmunk gets as big as 10.4 cm (0′ 5″)
- Delicate slender opossum gets as big as 10.1 cm (0′ 4″)
- Honey possum gets as big as 7.7 cm (0′ 4″)