How many baby Meller’s mongooses are in a litter?
A Meller’s mongoose (Rhynchogale melleri) usually gives birth to around 2 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 80 grams (0.18 lbs) and measure 2.5 cm (0′ 1″). They are a member of the Herpestidae family (genus: Rhynchogale). An adult Meller’s mongoose grows up to a size of 46 cm (1′ 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.
Meller’s mongoose (Rhynchogale melleri) is a species of mongoose found in Africa. It occurs in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is the only member of the genus Rhynchogale.
Other animals of the family Herpestidae
Meller’s mongoose is a member of the Herpestidae, as are these animals:
- Gambian mongoose weighting around 1.64 kilograms (3.62 lbs)
- Stripe-necked mongoose with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Narrow-striped mongoose with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Angolan kusimanse weighting only 700 grams
- Ring-tailed vontsira with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Bengal mongoose weighting only 741 grams
- Short-tailed mongoose with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Pousargues’s mongoose with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Bushy-tailed mongoose with 1 babies per pregnancy
- White-tailed mongoose with 2 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Meller’s mongoose
Those animals also give birth to 2 babies at once:
- Slender rat
- Guyenne spiny rat
- Lundomys
- Hershkovitz’s marmoset
- Cape genet
- Honey possum
- Savi’s pipistrelle
- Sarcophilus laniarius
- Deppe’s squirrel
- Savi’s pipistrelle
Animals with the same weight as a Meller’s mongoose
What other animals weight around 2.24 kg (4.94 lbs)?
- Stripe-necked mongoose usually reaching 2.38 kgs (5.25 lbs)
- Manchurian hare usually reaching 1.84 kgs (4.06 lbs)
- Ground cuscus usually reaching 2.61 kgs (5.75 lbs)
- Subalpine woolly rat usually reaching 1.99 kgs (4.39 lbs)
- Nilgiri marten usually reaching 2.04 kgs (4.5 lbs)
- Scrub hare usually reaching 2.6 kgs (5.73 lbs)
- White-sided jackrabbit usually reaching 2.61 kgs (5.75 lbs)
- Long-footed potoroo usually reaching 1.84 kgs (4.06 lbs)
- Gray-headed lemur usually reaching 2.4 kgs (5.29 lbs)
- Common brown lemur usually reaching 2.38 kgs (5.25 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Meller’s mongoose
Also reaching around 46 cm (1′ 7″) in size do these animals:
- American marten gets as big as 38.2 cm (1′ 4″)
- White-bellied spider monkey gets as big as 46 cm (1′ 7″)
- White-striped dorcopsis gets as big as 53.8 cm (1′ 10″)
- Broom hare gets as big as 50.2 cm (1′ 8″)
- White-cheeked spider monkey gets as big as 46 cm (1′ 7″)
- Crab-eating macaque gets as big as 51.5 cm (1′ 9″)
- European pine marten gets as big as 45.7 cm (1′ 6″)
- Black-tailed jackrabbit gets as big as 48.4 cm (1′ 8″)
- Small-toothed palm civet gets as big as 52.8 cm (1′ 9″)
- White-thighed surili gets as big as 51 cm (1′ 9″)