How many baby Japanese grass voles are in a litter?
A Japanese grass vole (Microtus montebelli) usually gives birth to around 4 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 22 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 2 grams (0 lbs) and measure 1.8 cm (0′ 1″). They are a member of the Muridae family (genus: Microtus). An adult Japanese grass vole grows up to a size of 12.4 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.
The Japanese grass vole (Microtus montebelli) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae.It is found only in Japan.
Other animals of the family Muridae
Japanese grass vole is a member of the Muridae, as are these animals:
- Oryzomys couesi with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Striped Atlantic Forest rat weighting only 67 grams
- Handleyomys melanotis with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Stephen’s woodrat with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Incan hocicudo weighting only 34 grams
- Altiplano grass mouse weighting only 20 grams
- Cauca climbing mouse weighting only 89 grams
- Brown rat with 8 babies per pregnancy
- Soft-furred Oldfield mouse weighting only 35 grams
- Gray-bellied tree mouse with 2 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Japanese grass vole
Those animals also give birth to 4 babies at once:
- Tien Shan birch mouse
- New Holland mouse
- Swift fox
- European mink
- Bushveld gerbil
- Akodon azarae
- Wild boar
- Mexican spiny pocket mouse
- Oligoryzomys longicaudatus
- Pallas’s cat
Animals with the same weight as a Japanese grass vole
What other animals weight around 29 grams (0.06 lbs)?
- Stirton’s deer mouse weighting 29 grams
- Abrothrix jelskii weighting 34 grams
- Akodon azarae weighting 25 grams
- Nigerian gerbil weighting 29 grams
- Brown antechinus weighting 29 grams
- Oligoryzomys arenalis weighting 25 grams
- White-bellied slender opossum weighting 34 grams
- Common fat-tailed mouse opossum weighting 28 grams
- Abrothrix andinus weighting 24 grams
- Oligoryzomys fulvescens weighting 25 grams