How many baby Gray mouse lemurs are in a litter?
A Gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) usually gives birth to around 2 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 60 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 4 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 4.3 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Cheirogaleidae family (genus: Microcebus). An adult Gray mouse lemur grows up to a size of 14 cm (0′ 6″).
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 gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), grey mouse lemur or lesser mouse lemur, is a small lemur, a type of strepsirrhine primate, found only on the island of Madagascar. Weighing 58 to 67 grams (2.0 to 2.4 oz), it is the largest of the mouse lemurs (genus Microcebus), a group that includes the smallest primates in the world. The species is named for its mouse-like size and coloration and is known locally (in Malagasy) as tsidy, koitsiky, titilivaha, pondiky, and vakiandry. The gray mouse lemur and all other mouse lemurs are considered cryptic species, as they are nearly indistinguishable from each other by appearance. For this reason, the gray mouse lemur was considered the only mouse lemur species for decades until more recent studies began to distinguish between the species.Like all mouse lemurs, this species is nocturnal and arboreal. It is very active, and though it forages alone, groups of males and females form sleeping groups and share tree holes during the day. It exhibits a form of dormancy called torpor during the cool, dry winter months, and in some cases undergoes seasonal torpor (or hibernation), which is unusual for primates. The gray mouse lemur can be found in several types of forest throughout western and southern Madagascar. Its diet consists primarily of fruit, insects, flowers, and nectar. In the wild, its natural predators include owls, snakes, and endemic mammalian predators. Predation pressure is higher for this species than among any other primate species, with one out of four individuals taken by a predator each year. This is counterbalanced by its high reproductive rate. Breeding is seasonal, and distinct vocalizations are used to prevent hybridization with species that overlap its range. Gestation lasts approximately 60 days, and typically two young are born. The offspring are usually independent in two months, and can reproduce after one year. The gray mouse lemur has a reproductive lifespan of five years, although captive individuals have been reported to live up to 15 years.Although threatened by deforestation, habitat degradation, and live capture for the pet trade, it is considered one of Madagascar’s most abundant small native mammals. It can tolerate moderate food shortages by experiencing daily torpor to conserve energy, but extended food shortages due to climate change may pose a significant risk to the species.
Other animals of the family Cheirogaleidae
Gray mouse lemur is a member of the Cheirogaleidae, as are these animals:
- Hairy-eared dwarf lemur with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur weighting only 33 grams
- Brown mouse lemur with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Sambirano mouse lemur weighting only 49 grams
- Microcebus coquereli with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Masoala fork-marked lemur with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Pygmy mouse lemur with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Greater dwarf lemur with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Reddish-gray mouse lemur weighting only 70 grams
- Coquerel’s giant mouse lemur with 1 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Gray mouse lemur
Those animals also give birth to 2 babies at once:
- Lundomys
- Hinde’s rock rat
- Florida mouse
- Pronghorn
- Guyenne spiny rat
- Collared tuco-tuco
- Iberian lynx
- Southern yellow bat
- Desert pocket mouse
- Nilgiri striped squirrel
Animals that get as old as a Gray mouse lemur
Other animals that usually reach the age of 15.5 years:
- Pallas’s squirrel with 16.08 years
- Black-footed mongoose with 15.83 years
- Red hartebeest with 15.25 years
- Celebes crested macaque with 18 years
- Bat-eared fox with 13.75 years
- Beira (antelope) with 14 years
- Günther’s dik-dik with 14 years
- La Plata dolphin with 16 years
- Red goral with 18.25 years
- Red panda with 14 years
Animals with the same weight as a Gray mouse lemur
What other animals weight around 68 grams (0.15 lbs)?
- Fringed fruit-eating bat weighting 63 grams
- Daphne’s Oldfield mouse weighting 77 grams
- Red rock rat weighting 81 grams
- Nephelomys albigularis weighting 60 grams
- Red-bellied mosaic-tailed rat weighting 78 grams
- Gansu pika weighting 69 grams
- Maritime striped squirrel weighting 66 grams
- Jaliscan spiny pocket mouse weighting 65 grams
- Gray leaf-eared mouse weighting 68 grams
- Glacier rat weighting 66 grams
Animals with the same size as a Gray mouse lemur
Also reaching around 14 cm (0′ 6″) in size do these animals:
- Vinogradov’s jird gets as big as 15.5 cm (0′ 7″)
- Nimba otter shrew gets as big as 16 cm (0′ 7″)
- Banner-tailed kangaroo rat gets as big as 14.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Amazon weasel gets as big as 15.5 cm (0′ 7″)
- Bush rat gets as big as 15.8 cm (0′ 7″)
- Siberian chipmunk gets as big as 14.8 cm (0′ 6″)
- Coxing’s white-bellied rat gets as big as 13 cm (0′ 6″)
- Western rock elephant shrew gets as big as 12.2 cm (0′ 5″)
- Dusky mosaic-tailed rat gets as big as 15.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Glacier rat gets as big as 12.8 cm (0′ 6″)