How many baby Dwarf sperm whales are in a litter?
A Dwarf sperm whale (Kogia simus) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 273 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 5.79 kg (12.77 lbs) and measure 8.5 cm (0′ 4″). They are a member of the Physeteridae family (genus: Kogia). An adult Dwarf sperm whale grows up to a size of 2.16 meter (7′ 2″).
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 dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima) is a sperm whale that inhabits temperate and tropical oceans worldwide, in particular continental shelves and slopes. It was first described by biologist Richard Owen in 1866, based on illustrations by naturalist Sir Walter Elliot. The species was considered to be synonymous with the pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps) from 1878 until 1998. The dwarf sperm whale is a small whale, 2 to 2.7 m (6 ft 7 in to 8 ft 10 in) and 136 to 272 kg (300 to 600 lb), that has a gray coloration, square head, small jaw, and robust body. Its appearance is very similar to the pygmy sperm whale, distinguished mainly by the position of the dorsal fin on the body–nearer the middle in the dwarf sperm whale and nearer the back in the other.The dwarf sperm whale is a suction feeder that mainly eats squid, and does this in small pods of typically 1 to 4 members. It is preyed upon by the killer whale (Orcinus orca) and large sharks such as the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharius). When startled, the whale can eject a cloud of red-brown fluid, similar to a squid. Most of what is known of the whale comes from beached individuals, as sightings in the ocean are rare. Many of these stranded whales died from parasitic infestations or heart failure.The dwarf sperm whale is hunted in small numbers around Asia. It is more threatened by ingesting or getting entangled by marine debris. No global population estimate has been made, and so its conservation status by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is data deficient.
Other animals of the family Physeteridae
Dwarf sperm whale is a member of the Physeteridae, as are these animals:
- Sperm whale becoming 77 years old
- Dwarf sperm whale with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Pygmy sperm whale becoming 17 years old
Animals that share a litter size with Dwarf sperm whale
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- Gray snub-nosed monkey
- Maned sloth
- Oribi
- Water buffalo
- Grant’s golden mole
- Red-fronted gazelle
- Horse
- Greater mouse-deer
- New Caledonia blossom bat
- Melck’s house bat
Animals with the same weight as a Dwarf sperm whale
What other animals weight around 183 kg (403.45 lbs)?
- Thorold’s deer usually reaching 161 kgs (354.94 lbs)
- Giant forest hog usually reaching 196.57 kgs (433.36 lbs)
- Blue wildebeest usually reaching 197.31 kgs (434.99 lbs)
- Australian sea lion usually reaching 189.14 kgs (416.98 lbs)
- Philippine warty pig usually reaching 189.4 kgs (417.56 lbs)
- Fraser’s dolphin usually reaching 164 kgs (361.56 lbs)
- Hartebeest usually reaching 162.47 kgs (358.18 lbs)
- Irrawaddy dolphin usually reaching 190 kgs (418.88 lbs)
- Tiger usually reaching 162.28 kgs (357.77 lbs)
- Black wildebeest usually reaching 156.55 kgs (345.13 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Dwarf sperm whale
Also reaching around 2.16 meter (7′ 2″) in size do these animals:
- African buffalo gets as big as 2.53 meter (8′ 4″)
- Sambar deer gets as big as 2.04 meter (6′ 9″)
- Lion gets as big as 1.84 meter (6′ 1″)
- Polar bear gets as big as 2 meter (6′ 7″)
- Greater kudu gets as big as 2.2 meter (7′ 3″)
- Northern fur seal gets as big as 1.74 meter (5′ 9″)
- Caribbean monk seal gets as big as 2.29 meter (7′ 7″)
- Black wildebeest gets as big as 1.82 meter (6′ 0″)
- Tamaraw gets as big as 2.2 meter (7′ 3″)
- Brown fur seal gets as big as 1.91 meter (6′ 3″)