How many baby Gansu shrews are in a litter?
A Gansu shrew (Sorex cansulus) usually gives birth to around 5 babies.With 2 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 10 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 90 grams (0.2 lbs) and measure 2.5 cm (0′ 1″). They are a member of the Soricidae family (genus: Sorex). An adult Gansu shrew grows up to a size of 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.
The Gansu shrew (Sorex cansulus) is a red-toothed shrew found only in a small part of Gansu province and other adjacent areas of China. With its very limited range, it is sensitive to habitat loss and is listed as a “vulnerable species” in the Chinese Red List, while the IUCN lists it as being “data deficient”
Other animals of the family Soricidae
Gansu shrew is a member of the Soricidae, as are these animals:
- Kivu long-haired shrew with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Greater dwarf shrew with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Canarian shrew weighting only 7 grams
- African black shrew with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Arctic shrew with 6 babies per pregnancy
- Buettikofer’s shrew with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Doucet’s musk shrew weighting only 4 grams
- Smith’s shrew raching a size of 8.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- Aberdare mole shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Large-toothed shrew weighting only 8 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Gansu shrew
Those animals also give birth to 5 babies at once:
- Arctic hare
- Dusky slender opossum
- Piebald shrew
- Meadow jumping mouse
- Merriam’s shrew
- Montane vole
- Great Balkhan mouse-like hamster
- Edible dormouse
- Crowned shrew
- Long-eared chipmunk
Animals with the same size as a Gansu shrew
Also reaching around 8 cm (0′ 4″) in size do these animals:
- White-bellied fat-tailed mouse opossum gets as big as 8.5 cm (0′ 4″)
- San Diego pocket mouse gets as big as 8.3 cm (0′ 4″)
- De Winton’s golden mole gets as big as 9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Karimi’s fat-tailed mouse opossum gets as big as 9.5 cm (0′ 4″)
- Lined pocket mouse gets as big as 7.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- Steppe mouse gets as big as 7.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Japanese dormouse gets as big as 7.2 cm (0′ 3″)
- Gansu mole gets as big as 8.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Ammodile gets as big as 9.5 cm (0′ 4″)
- Ash-grey mouse gets as big as 8.9 cm (0′ 4″)