How many baby Littledale’s whistling rats are in a litter?
A Littledale’s whistling rat (Parotomys littledalei) usually gives birth to around 2 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 84 grams (0.19 lbs) and measure 7.8 cm (0′ 4″). They are a member of the Muridae family (genus: Parotomys). An adult Littledale’s whistling rat grows up to a size of 51.7 cm (1′ 9″).
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.
Littledale’s whistling rat (Parotomys littledalei) is one of two species of Murid rodent in the genus Parotomys. It is found in Namibia and South Africa. Its natural habitats are temperate shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and temperate desert.
Other animals of the family Muridae
Littledale’s whistling rat is a member of the Muridae, as are these animals:
- Greater Wilfred’s mouse weighting only 46 grams
- African marsh rat with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Beach vole with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Bushy-tailed woodrat with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Chestnut-bellied spiny rat weighting only 159 grams
- Grey dwarf hamster with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Andean swamp rat weighting only 64 grams
- Asiatic long-tailed climbing mouse with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Argentine hocicudo weighting only 67 grams
- Scolomys ucayalensis weighting only 26 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Littledale’s whistling rat
Those animals also give birth to 2 babies at once:
- Red panda
- Guaira spiny rat
- Andean mouse
- Mount Pirri isthmus rat
- Red-legged sun squirrel
- Myosorex varius
- Nilgiri striped squirrel
- Giant otter
- Target rat
- Marbled cat
Animals with the same weight as a Littledale’s whistling rat
What other animals weight around 126 grams (0.28 lbs)?
- Furtive tuco-tuco weighting 150 grams
- Summit rat weighting 107 grams
- Narrow-striped marsupial shrew weighting 124 grams
- Stein’s rat weighting 151 grams
- European water vole weighting 120 grams
- Daurian pika weighting 131 grams
- Kemp’s gerbil weighting 101 grams
- Franquet’s epauletted fruit bat weighting 119 grams
- Isarog shrew-rat weighting 122 grams
- Woolly-headed spiny tree-rat weighting 108 grams