How many baby Groundhogs are in a litter?
A Groundhog (Marmota monax) usually gives birth to around 4 babies.With 1 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 4 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 31 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 27 grams (0.06 lbs) and measure 8.9 cm (0′ 4″). They are a member of the Sciuridae family (genus: Marmota). An adult Groundhog grows up to a size of 41.4 cm (1′ 5″).
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 groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. It was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.The groundhog is also referred to as a chuck, wood-shock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger, Canada marmot, monax, moonack, weenusk, red monk and, among French Canadians in eastern Canada, siffleux.The name “thickwood badger” was given in the Northwest to distinguish the animal from the prairie badger. Monax (Móonack) is an Algonquian name of the woodchuck, which meant “digger” (cf. Lenape monachgeu). Young groundhogs may be called chucklings.Other marmots, such as the yellow-bellied and hoary marmots, live in rocky and mountainous areas, but the groundhog is a lowland creature. It is found through much of the eastern United States across Canada and into Alaska.
Other animals of the family Sciuridae
Groundhog is a member of the Sciuridae, as are these animals:
- Sonoma chipmunk with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Samar squirrel weighting only 225 grams
- Indian palm squirrel with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Vordermann’s flying squirrel with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Washington ground squirrel with 7 babies per pregnancy
- Allen’s chipmunk with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Selangor pygmy flying squirrel weighting only 30 grams
- Ochre bush squirrel with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Golden-mantled ground squirrel with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Tufted ground squirrel weighting around 1.35 kilograms (2.98 lbs)
Animals that share a litter size with Groundhog
Those animals also give birth to 4 babies at once:
- Dark bolo mouse
- Northern bog lemming
- Camas pocket gopher
- Allen’s chipmunk
- Boehm’s gerbil
- Short-tailed shrew tenrec
- Himalayan shrew
- Rudd’s mouse
- Long-clawed ground squirrel
- Turkestan rat
Animals that get as old as a Groundhog
Other animals that usually reach the age of 10 years:
- Pallid bat with 9.08 years
- Greater fairy armadillo with 12 years
- Southern flying squirrel with 12 years
- Northern treeshrew with 10 years
- Bengal fox with 10 years
- Yellow-bellied marmot with 8 years
- Ord’s kangaroo rat with 9.75 years
- Leadbeater’s possum with 11 years
- Hispaniolan hutia with 9.83 years
- Pallas’s long-tongued bat with 10 years
Animals with the same weight as a Groundhog
What other animals weight around 3.88 kg (8.55 lbs)?
- Long-tailed marmot usually reaching 4.35 kgs (9.59 lbs)
- Nine-banded armadillo usually reaching 3.98 kgs (8.77 lbs)
- European hare usually reaching 3.82 kgs (8.42 lbs)
- Golden-backed uakari usually reaching 3.13 kgs (6.9 lbs)
- Red-tailed monkey usually reaching 3.54 kgs (7.8 lbs)
- White-tailed jackrabbit usually reaching 3.38 kgs (7.45 lbs)
- Masked palm civet usually reaching 4.3 kgs (9.48 lbs)
- Thick-spined porcupine usually reaching 4.59 kgs (10.12 lbs)
- Sri Lankan spotted chevrotain usually reaching 3.11 kgs (6.86 lbs)
- Tiger quoll usually reaching 3.32 kgs (7.32 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Groundhog
Also reaching around 41.4 cm (1′ 5″) in size do these animals:
- Rock hyrax gets as big as 46.7 cm (1′ 7″)
- Snowshoe hare gets as big as 42.4 cm (1′ 5″)
- Angolan talapoin gets as big as 35.5 cm (1′ 2″)
- Golden-crowned sifaka gets as big as 47.5 cm (1′ 7″)
- Geoffroy’s spider monkey gets as big as 43.3 cm (1′ 6″)
- Northern viscacha gets as big as 34.2 cm (1′ 2″)
- Golden palm civet gets as big as 48.8 cm (1′ 8″)
- Red-tailed monkey gets as big as 44.4 cm (1′ 6″)
- Korean hare gets as big as 46.5 cm (1′ 7″)
- Ground cuscus gets as big as 45.4 cm (1′ 6″)