How many baby Kimberley rock rats are in a litter?
A Kimberley rock rat (Zyzomys woodwardi) usually gives birth to around 2 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 3 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 11.1 cm (0′ 5″). They are a member of the Muridae family (genus: Zyzomys). An adult Kimberley rock rat grows up to a size of 14.6 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 Kimberley rock rat (Zyzomys woodwardi) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.It is found only in Australia. It is specifically found in northern tropical part of the northern territory and adjacent Kimberley division of west Australia in high altitude closed forest. Biologist predicted that Zyzomys Woodwardi speciated from Zyzomys Arugurus around 8000 years ago due to a large flood that increased the wetness of the environment. In response to the wetter environment Zyzomys Woodwardi had a better Darwinian fitness and outcompeted Zyzomys Arugurus due to new selective pressures and over time the two species were separated by large vine thickets and sandstone barriers.
Other animals of the family Muridae
Kimberley rock rat is a member of the Muridae, as are these animals:
- Oecomys roberti weighting only 73 grams
- Vinogradov’s jird with 7 babies per pregnancy
- Unexpected cotton rat weighting only 140 grams
- Puna mouse with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Blackish deer mouse with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Cape York melomys weighting only 70 grams
- Namib brush-tailed gerbil weighting only 38 grams
- Lesser hamster-rat with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Hooper’s mouse with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Osgood’s leaf-eared mouse weighting only 45 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Kimberley rock rat
Those animals also give birth to 2 babies at once:
- True’s vole
- Marsh mongoose
- Jaguarundi
- Natal multimammate mouse
- Round-tailed muskrat
- Jungle palm squirrel
- Little pied bat
- Menzbier’s marmot
- Cape fox
- European pine vole
Animals with the same weight as a Kimberley rock rat
What other animals weight around 95 grams (0.21 lbs)?
- Bocage’s mole-rat weighting 93 grams
- Goliath shrew weighting 87 grams
- Desert kangaroo rat weighting 108 grams
- Acacia rat weighting 77 grams
- Dian’s tarsier weighting 110 grams
- Big-eared climbing rat weighting 86 grams
- Broad-striped tube-nosed fruit bat weighting 85 grams
- Forest Oldfield mouse weighting 77 grams
- Bartels’s spiny rat weighting 88 grams
- Bush vlei rat weighting 103 grams
Animals with the same size as a Kimberley rock rat
Also reaching around 14.6 cm (0′ 6″) in size do these animals:
- Tete veld aethomys gets as big as 14.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Rajah spiny rat gets as big as 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Amazon weasel gets as big as 15.5 cm (0′ 7″)
- Northern red-sided opossum gets as big as 13.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Long-nosed paramelomys gets as big as 17 cm (0′ 7″)
- Long-tailed hopping mouse gets as big as 13.8 cm (0′ 6″)
- Ribboned rope squirrel gets as big as 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Naked mole-rat gets as big as 13 cm (0′ 6″)
- Biak glider gets as big as 14.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Moss-forest rat gets as big as 12.1 cm (0′ 5″)