How many baby Dusky-footed woodrats are in a litter?
A Dusky-footed woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes) usually gives birth to around 2 babies.With 1 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 2 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 33 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 13 grams (0.03 lbs) and measure 6.6 cm (0′ 3″). They are a member of the Muridae family (genus: Neotoma). An adult Dusky-footed woodrat grows up to a size of 20.8 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.
The dusky-footed woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes) is a species of nocturnal rodent in the family Cricetidae. They are commonly called “packrats” or “trade rats” and build large, domed dens that can reach several feet in height. Coyotes and other predators will attempt to prey on these rodents by laying waste to the dens, but the sheer volume of material is usually dissuasive. Occasionally, dusky-footed woodrats will build satellite dens in trees. Although these animals are religiously solitary, except in the mating season (when they are most vulnerable to predation), dens are frequently found in clusters of up to several dozen, forming rough “communities”. The mating system in this species appears to be variable, with promiscuity most generally at high population densities and monogamy at lower densities.They are similar in appearance to the common rat species Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus, but with larger ears and eyes, softer coats, and furred tails. The California mouse, Peromyscus californicus, which has similar distribution, is sometimes found living in woodrat dens. Dens contain a nest and one or more “pantry” chambers which are used to store leaves and nuts for future consumption. The dental formula of Neotoma fuscipes is 1.0.0.31.0.0.3 × 2 = 16.
Other animals of the family Muridae
Dusky-footed woodrat is a member of the Muridae, as are these animals:
- Hylaeamys oniscus weighting only 49 grams
- Friendly leaf-eared mouse weighting only 20 grams
- Maxomys baeodon weighting only 159 grams
- Handleyomys alfaroi with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Aegialomys galapagoensis becoming 1.67 years old
- Short-tailed bandicoot rat with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Gambian pouched rat with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Wetzel’s climbing mouse weighting only 89 grams
- Percival’s spiny mouse weighting only 22 grams
- Northwestern deer mouse with 5 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Dusky-footed woodrat
Those animals also give birth to 2 babies at once:
- Lusitanian pine vole
- Asian black bear
- Mountain ground squirrel
- Allegheny woodrat
- Angoni vlei rat
- Cactus mouse
- Otter civet
- Mexican harvest mouse
- Indomalayan pencil-tailed tree mouse
- Pronghorn
Animals with the same weight as a Dusky-footed woodrat
What other animals weight around 219 grams (0.48 lbs)?
- Pearson’s tuco-tuco weighting 212 grams
- Red-cheeked rope squirrel weighting 250 grams
- Shrew-faced squirrel weighting 230 grams
- Patagonian weasel weighting 225 grams
- Long-tailed spiny rat weighting 205 grams
- Southeastern pocket gopher weighting 201 grams
- Fijian monkey-faced bat weighting 256 grams
- Panniet naked-backed fruit bat weighting 239 grams
- Ceram fruit bat weighting 228 grams
- Maule tuco-tuco weighting 235 grams
Animals with the same size as a Dusky-footed woodrat
Also reaching around 20.8 cm (0′ 9″) in size do these animals:
- Brandt’s hedgehog gets as big as 20.7 cm (0′ 9″)
- Mexican ground squirrel gets as big as 19.3 cm (0′ 8″)
- Tawny-bellied cotton rat gets as big as 18 cm (0′ 8″)
- Blazed Luzon shrew-rat gets as big as 19.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Whitehead’s spiny rat gets as big as 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Golden-mantled ground squirrel gets as big as 21.4 cm (0′ 9″)
- Geelvink Bay flying fox gets as big as 19.7 cm (0′ 8″)
- Desert hedgehog gets as big as 18.1 cm (0′ 8″)
- Daurian pika gets as big as 18 cm (0′ 8″)
- Mindanao hairy-tailed rat gets as big as 17.5 cm (0′ 7″)