How many baby Heermann’s kangaroo rats are in a litter?
A Heermann’s kangaroo rat (Dipodomys heermanni) usually gives birth to around 3 babies.With 2 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 6 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 30 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 3 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 27.5 cm (0′ 11″). They are a member of the Heteromyidae family (genus: Dipodomys). An adult Heermann’s kangaroo rat grows up to a size of 11.1 cm (0′ 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.
Heermann’s kangaroo rat (Dipodomys heermanni) is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. Their long smooth pelage resembles typical kangaroo rats, with their dorsal side showing a mixed range of olive, black and orange colors. There are 9 distinguished sub-species of Dipodomys heermanni: D.h. arenae, D.h. berkeleyensis, D.h. dixoni, D.h. goldmani, D.h. heermanni, D.h. jolonensis, D.h.morroensis, D.h. swarthi, and D.h. tularensis. The dental formula of Dipodomys heermanni is 1.0.1.31.0.1.3 × 2 = 20.It is considered “broad-faced”, unlike many other species of kangaroo rats, which are considered to be “narrow-faced”. It has five toes on each hind foot, and this small characteristic is important in distinguishing it from similar species such as Dipodomys californicus and Dipodomys nitratoides. Additionally it is smaller than Dipodomys ingens, Dipodomys venustus, and Dipodomys elephantinus.Heermann’s kangaroo rat averages a total length of 250–313 mm (9.8–12.3 in), with their tail measuring 160–200 mm (6.3–7.9 in), their hind foot measuring 38–46 mm (1.5–1.8 in), and their ear measuring 10–17 mm (0.39–0.67 in). Additionally when looking at all standard external measurements it has been found they demonstrate significant sexual dimorphism.
Other animals of the family Heteromyidae
Heermann’s kangaroo rat is a member of the Heteromyidae, as are these animals:
- Olive-backed pocket mouse with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Narrow-skulled pocket mouse raching a size of 8.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- Desert kangaroo rat with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Dark kangaroo mouse with 3 babies per pregnancy
- San Joaquin pocket mouse with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Little pocket mouse with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Arizona pocket mouse weighting only 11 grams
- Stephens’s kangaroo rat with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Goldman’s spiny pocket mouse weighting only 85 grams
- Southern spiny pocket mouse with 2 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Heermann’s kangaroo rat
Those animals also give birth to 3 babies at once:
- Greater Egyptian gerbil
- Tibetan sand fox
- Zacatecan deer mouse
- American hog-nosed skunk
- Numbat
- Western red-backed vole
- Neacomys tenuipes
- Chiriqui brown mouse
- Kashmir flying squirrel
- White-tailed rat
Animals that get as old as a Heermann’s kangaroo rat
Other animals that usually reach the age of 2.33 years:
- Common opossum with 2.67 years
- Golden mouse with 2.5 years
- Norway lemming with 2 years
- McIlhenny’s four-eyed opossum with 2.25 years
- Highland streaked tenrec with 2.58 years
- Marsh rice rat with 2.33 years
- Long-tailed giant rat with 2 years
- Delany’s mouse with 2 years
- Honey possum with 2 years
- Salt marsh harvest mouse with 2.58 years
Animals with the same weight as a Heermann’s kangaroo rat
What other animals weight around 63 grams (0.14 lbs)?
- Zempoaltepec weighting 58 grams
- Desmarest’s spiny pocket mouse weighting 73 grams
- Mindomys weighting 60 grams
- Greater big-footed mouse weighting 55 grams
- Balkan snow vole weighting 56 grams
- Coast mole weighting 61 grams
- Palmer’s chipmunk weighting 60 grams
- Nephelomys albigularis weighting 60 grams
- Kemp’s thicket rat weighting 75 grams
- Charming thicket rat weighting 61 grams
Animals with the same size as a Heermann’s kangaroo rat
Also reaching around 11.1 cm (0′ 5″) in size do these animals:
- Gray-footed chipmunk gets as big as 13.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Dwarf fat-tailed mouse opossum gets as big as 11.3 cm (0′ 5″)
- Shining thicket rat gets as big as 11.1 cm (0′ 5″)
- Palawan pencil-tailed tree mouse gets as big as 9.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- Mexican spiny pocket mouse gets as big as 11.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- South African pouched mouse gets as big as 11.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Black-eared squirrel gets as big as 9.5 cm (0′ 4″)
- Hairy-tailed mole gets as big as 12.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Rock vole gets as big as 10.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- White-bellied slender opossum gets as big as 11.2 cm (0′ 5″)