How many baby Lesser red musk shrews are in a litter?
A Lesser red musk shrew (Crocidura hirta) usually gives birth to around 3 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 18 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 1 grams (0 lbs) and measure 3 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Soricidae family (genus: Crocidura). An adult Lesser red musk shrew grows up to a size of 6 cm (0′ 3″).
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 lesser red musk shrew (Crocidura hirta) is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, and hot deserts.
Other animals of the family Soricidae
Lesser red musk shrew is a member of the Soricidae, as are these animals:
- Himalayan shrew with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Climbing shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Reddish-gray musk shrew with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Sclater’s shrew weighting only 7 grams
- Kelaart’s long-clawed shrew weighting only 36 grams
- Mount Kenya mole shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Dark-footed mouse shrew with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Elliot’s short-tailed shrew weighting only 14 grams
- Vagrant shrew with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Pacific shrew with 4 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Lesser red musk shrew
Those animals also give birth to 3 babies at once:
- Graphiurus hueti
- Whitehead’s spiny rat
- Cameroon soft-furred mouse
- Nicobar shrew
- Kivu long-haired shrew
- North American beaver
- Desert hedgehog
- Irenomys
- Damaraland mole-rat
- Pampas fox
Animals with the same weight as a Lesser red musk shrew
What other animals weight around 15 grams (0.03 lbs)?
- Japanese shrew mole weighting 18 grams
- Broad-eared bat weighting 13 grams
- Heller’s broad-nosed bat weighting 13 grams
- Semon’s leaf-nosed bat weighting 14 grams
- White-footed mouse weighting 18 grams
- Turbo shrew weighting 14 grams
- Little long-tailed dunnart weighting 14 grams
- Western red-backed vole weighting 18 grams
- Dwarf bonneted bat weighting 12 grams
- Asian barbastelle weighting 15 grams