How many baby Himalayan pikas are in a litter?
A Himalayan pika (Ochotona himalayana) usually gives birth to around 3 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 11 grams (0.02 lbs) and measure 5.7 cm (0′ 3″). They are a member of the Ochotonidae family (genus: Ochotona). An adult Himalayan pika grows up to a size of 16.5 cm (0′ 7″).
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 Himalayan pika (Ochotona himalayana) is a species of small mammal in the pika family (Ochotonidae). It is found at high altitudes in remote areas of Tibet and possibly also in Nepal. The IUCN has listed this species as being of “least concern”.
Other animals of the family Ochotonidae
Himalayan pika is a member of the Ochotonidae, as are these animals:
- Collared pika with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Ili pika raching a size of 20.3 cm (0′ 8″)
- Gaoligong pika raching a size of 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Plateau pika with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Daurian pika with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Alpine pika with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Large-eared pika with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Tsing-ling pika weighting only 105 grams
- Afghan pika with 6 babies per pregnancy
- Royle’s pika with 3 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Himalayan pika
Those animals also give birth to 3 babies at once:
- Polynesian rat
- Cheetah
- Borneo black-banded squirrel
- Nine-banded armadillo
- Numbat
- Middle East blind mole-rat
- Slender harvest mouse
- Brush rabbit
- Taiwan field mouse
- White-tailed rat
Animals with the same size as a Himalayan pika
Also reaching around 16.5 cm (0′ 7″) in size do these animals:
- Hainan gymnure gets as big as 13.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- California vole gets as big as 13.9 cm (0′ 6″)
- Long-tailed hopping mouse gets as big as 13.8 cm (0′ 6″)
- Desert hedgehog gets as big as 18.1 cm (0′ 8″)
- Ruwenzori otter shrew gets as big as 16 cm (0′ 7″)
- Least weasel gets as big as 18.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- Roman mole gets as big as 14.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Arianus’s rat gets as big as 13.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Gray short-tailed opossum gets as big as 14.8 cm (0′ 6″)
- Large-toothed hairy-tailed rat gets as big as 19.5 cm (0′ 8″)