How many baby Eastern spotted skunks are in a litter?
A Eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius) usually gives birth to around 5 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 32 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 12 grams (0.03 lbs) and measure 4.8 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Mustelidae family (genus: Spilogale). An adult Eastern spotted skunk grows up to a size of 30 cm (1′ 0″).
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 eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius) is a small, relatively slender skunk found in North America, throughout the eastern United States and in small areas of Canada and Mexico.This small skunk is more weasel-like in body shape than the more familiar striped skunk. The eastern spotted skunk has four stripes on its back which are broken in pattern, giving it a “spotted” appearance. They have a white spot on their forehead. They are found in Canada (southeast Manitoba and northwestern Ontario), the United States and northeastern Mexico. Males, at 46.3–68.8 cm (18.2–27.1 in) in total length, are large than females, at 35–54.4 cm (13.8–21.4 in). The tail accounts for roughly a third of their total length. Body mass can range from 0.2 to 1.8 kg (0.44 to 3.97 lb), with males averaging around 700 g (1.5 lb) against the female’s average of 450 g (0.99 lb). Skull length is 43–55 mm (1.7–2.2 in). The eastern spotted skunk is a very small skunk, which (for comparison sake) is no larger than a good-sized tree squirrel.They are much more active than any other type of skunk. They have mostly the same predators as any other skunk (big cats, bobcats, owls, humans, etc.). Up to eight skunks may share an underground den in the winter. They can also climb and take shelter in trees.Eastern spotted skunks seem to prefer forest edges and upland prairie grasslands, especially where rock outcrops and shrub clumps are present. In western counties, it relies heavily on riparian corridors where woody shrubs and woodland edges are present. Woody fencerows, odd areas, and abandoned farm buildings are also important habitat for eastern spotted skunks.
Other animals of the family Mustelidae
Eastern spotted skunk is a member of the Mustelidae, as are these animals:
- Black-footed ferret with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Greater grison with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Malayan weasel with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Sable with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Striped hog-nosed skunk with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Honey badger with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Tayra with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Mountain weasel with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Marbled polecat with 5 babies per pregnancy
- American badger with 2 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Eastern spotted skunk
Those animals also give birth to 5 babies at once:
- Eurasian harvest mouse
- Javan warty pig
- American water shrew
- Middendorf’s vole
- Eversmann’s hamster
- Daurian ground squirrel
- Social vole
- Edible dormouse
- Tundra vole
- Fat-tailed false antechinus
Animals that get as old as a Eastern spotted skunk
Other animals that usually reach the age of 10 years:
- Fisher (animal) with 10.08 years
- Striped possum with 9.58 years
- European hare with 12 years
- Crowned lemur with 9.17 years
- Silver-haired bat with 12 years
- Jaguarundi with 10.58 years
- Banded linsang with 10.67 years
- Long-footed potoroo with 10 years
- Marbled polecat with 8.92 years
- Fischer’s pygmy fruit bat with 10 years
Animals with the same weight as a Eastern spotted skunk
What other animals weight around 568 grams (1.25 lbs)?
- Narrow-striped mongoose weighting 664 grams
- Lord Derby’s scaly-tailed squirrel weighting 665 grams
- Black flying fox weighting 609 grams
- Eastern gray squirrel weighting 546 grams
- Giant Atlantic tree-rat weighting 502 grams
- Painted tree-rat weighting 519 grams
- Mountain ground squirrel weighting 625 grams
- Painted ringtail possum weighting 639 grams
- Golden-headed lion tamarin weighting 573 grams
- Seychelles fruit bat weighting 491 grams
Animals with the same size as a Eastern spotted skunk
Also reaching around 30 cm (1′ 0″) in size do these animals:
- Spotted linsang gets as big as 35.4 cm (1′ 2″)
- Goeldi’s marmoset gets as big as 28 cm (1′ 0″)
- Marbled polecat gets as big as 31.9 cm (1′ 1″)
- Chinese red pika gets as big as 24.5 cm (0′ 10″)
- Potto gets as big as 32 cm (1′ 1″)
- Northern brown bandicoot gets as big as 35.4 cm (1′ 2″)
- Reclusive ringtail possum gets as big as 33.9 cm (1′ 2″)
- Brown four-eyed opossum gets as big as 26.1 cm (0′ 11″)
- Eastern woolly lemur gets as big as 27.5 cm (0′ 11″)
- Buffy-headed marmoset gets as big as 24 cm (0′ 10″)