How many baby European badgers are in a litter?
A European badger (Meles meles) usually gives birth to around 3 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 48 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 90 grams (0.2 lbs) and measure 1.5 cm (0′ 1″). They are a member of the Mustelidae family (genus: Meles). An adult European badger grows up to a size of 70.7 cm (2′ 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 European badger (Meles meles) also known as the Eurasian badger, is a badger species in the family Mustelidae native to almost all of Europe and some parts of Western Asia. It is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List as it has a wide range and a large stable population size, and is thought to be increasing in some regions. Several subspecies are recognized with the nominate subspecies (M. meles meles) predominating in most of Europe.The European badger is a powerfully built black, white, brown and grey animal with a small head, a stocky body, small black eyes and short tail. Its weight varies, being 7–13 kg (15–29 lb) in spring but building up to 15–17 kg (33–37 lb) in autumn before the winter sleep period. It is nocturnal and is a social, burrowing animal that sleeps during the day in one of several setts in its territorial range. These burrows have multiple chambers and entrances, and are extensive systems of underground passages of 35–81 m (115–266 ft) length. They house several badger families that use these setts for decades. Badgers are very fussy over the cleanliness of their burrow, carrying in fresh bedding and removing soiled material, and they defecate in latrines strategically situated outside their setts.Although classified as a carnivore, the European badger feeds on a wide variety of plant and animal foods, feeding on earthworms, large insects, small mammals, carrion, cereals and tubers. Litters of up to five cubs are produced in spring. The young are weaned a few months later but usually remain within the family group. The European badger has been known to share its burrow with other species such as rabbits, red foxes and raccoon dogs, but it can be ferocious when provoked, a trait which has been exploited in the now illegal blood sport of badger-baiting. Badgers are a reservoir for bovine tuberculosis, which also affects cattle. In England, culling of badger populations is used to reduce the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle.
Other animals of the family Mustelidae
European badger is a member of the Mustelidae, as are these animals:
- Asian small-clawed otter with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Japanese marten weighting around 1 kilograms (2.2 lbs)
- Yellow-throated marten with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Palawan stink badger weighting around 2.5 kilograms (5.51 lbs)
- Chinese ferret-badger with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Hog badger with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Bornean ferret-badger with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Honey badger with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Steppe polecat with 7 babies per pregnancy
- Hooded skunk with 4 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with European badger
Those animals also give birth to 3 babies at once:
- Desert mouse
- Rusty-bellied brush-furred rat
- Plains rat
- Bengal fox
- Panamanian spiny pocket mouse
- Dark-tailed tree rat
- Mountain hare
- Acacia rat
- Red spiny rat
- Malayan field rat
Animals that get as old as a European badger
Other animals that usually reach the age of 16.17 years:
- Nile lechwe with 18.67 years
- Llama with 14.17 years
- South American coati with 17.67 years
- Lesser spot-nosed monkey with 19 years
- Common bent-wing bat with 14 years
- Northern flying squirrel with 13 years
- Brown greater galago with 18.75 years
- Asian golden cat with 18 years
- Calabar angwantibo with 13 years
- Menzbier’s marmot with 15 years
Animals with the same weight as a European badger
What other animals weight around 11.89 kg (26.22 lbs)?
- Ground pangolin usually reaching 11.92 kgs (26.28 lbs)
- White-bellied duiker usually reaching 13.1 kgs (28.88 lbs)
- Ocelot usually reaching 11.89 kgs (26.21 lbs)
- Water deer usually reaching 12.73 kgs (28.06 lbs)
- Japanese macaque usually reaching 10.11 kgs (22.29 lbs)
- Pudú usually reaching 9.61 kgs (21.19 lbs)
- Tonkean macaque usually reaching 10.07 kgs (22.2 lbs)
- Greater long-nosed armadillo usually reaching 9.7 kgs (21.38 lbs)
- Bennett’s tree-kangaroo usually reaching 10.48 kgs (23.1 lbs)
- Capped langur usually reaching 11.21 kgs (24.71 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a European badger
Also reaching around 70.7 cm (2′ 4″) in size do these animals:
- Hairy-nosed otter gets as big as 76.5 cm (2′ 7″)
- Red forest duiker gets as big as 78.7 cm (2′ 7″)
- Suni gets as big as 59.9 cm (2′ 0″)
- Andean mountain cat gets as big as 60.2 cm (2′ 0″)
- Gray snub-nosed monkey gets as big as 70.7 cm (2′ 4″)
- Pampas fox gets as big as 62.2 cm (2′ 1″)
- Culpeo gets as big as 72.4 cm (2′ 5″)
- Patagonian mara gets as big as 66.4 cm (2′ 3″)
- Tonkin snub-nosed monkey gets as big as 56.9 cm (1′ 11″)
- African civet gets as big as 79.2 cm (2′ 8″)