How many baby Cuvier’s beaked whales are in a litter?
A Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 6.34 kg (13.99 lbs) and measure 11.1 cm (0′ 5″). They are a member of the Ziphiidae family (genus: Ziphius). An adult Cuvier’s beaked whale grows up to a size of 9.8 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.
Cuvier’s beaked whale or the goose-beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), the only member of the genus Ziphius, is the most widely distributed of all the beaked whales. It is one of the most frequently seen beached whales, despite preferring deep pelagic waters, usually deeper than 1,000 m (3,300 ft).The species name comes from Greek xiphos, “sword”, and Latin cavus, “hollow” and rostrum, “beak”, referring to the indentation on the head in front of the blowhole.
Other animals of the family Ziphiidae
Cuvier’s beaked whale is a member of the Ziphiidae, as are these animals:
- Southern bottlenose whale weighting around 3000 kilograms (6613.86 lbs)
- Tropical bottlenose whale weighting around 2200 kilograms (4850.16 lbs)
- Hector’s beaked whale weighting around 1000 kilograms (2204.62 lbs)
- Hubbs’ beaked whale weighting around 3400 kilograms (7495.71 lbs)
- Blainville’s beaked whale becoming 27 years old
- Gray’s beaked whale weighting around 2900 kilograms (6393.4 lbs)
- Strap-toothed whale weighting around 1500 kilograms (3306.93 lbs)
- Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale weighting around 1500 kilograms (3306.93 lbs)
- Sowerby’s beaked whale with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Shepherd’s beaked whale weighting around 2500 kilograms (5511.55 lbs)
Animals that share a litter size with Cuvier’s beaked whale
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- Black-mantled tamarin
- Patagonian mara
- Heart-nosed bat
- Hispaniolan hutia
- African sheath-tailed bat
- Sowerby’s beaked whale
- Coquerel’s sifaka
- Eastern lesser bamboo lemur
- Grizzled tree-kangaroo
- Spotted giant flying squirrel
Animals that get as old as a Cuvier’s beaked whale
Other animals that usually reach the age of 36 years:
- South American tapir with 35 years
- Giant panda with 30 years
- African buffalo with 29.5 years
- Spectacled bear with 36.42 years
- Western long-beaked echidna with 31 years
- Red kangaroo with 30 years
- Toque macaque with 35 years
- Grey-cheeked mangabey with 32.67 years
- Hooded seal with 35 years
- Dromedary with 40 years
Animals with the same weight as a Cuvier’s beaked whale
What other animals weight around 4772.5 kg (10521.55 lbs)?
- Gervais’ beaked whale usually reaching 5600 kgs (12345.87 lbs)
- Steller’s sea cow usually reaching 4000 kgs (8818.48 lbs)
- Common minke whale usually reaching 5588.55 kgs (12320.63 lbs)
- African forest elephant usually reaching 4750 kgs (10471.95 lbs)
- Killer whale usually reaching 5629.17 kgs (12410.18 lbs)
- Stejneger’s beaked whale usually reaching 4800 kgs (10582.18 lbs)
- African bush elephant usually reaching 3882.27 kgs (8558.93 lbs)