How many baby Merriam’s chipmunks are in a litter?
A Merriam’s chipmunk (Tamias merriami) usually gives birth to around 4 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 33 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 2 grams (0 lbs) and measure 3.4 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Sciuridae family (genus: Tamias). An adult Merriam’s chipmunk grows up to a size of 13.4 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.
Merriam’s chipmunk (Neotamias merriami) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in central and southern California. in the United States and a small area in northern Baja California, Mexico.The dental formula for Tamias merriami is 1.0.2.3.1.0.1.3. × 2 = 22
Other animals of the family Sciuridae
Merriam’s chipmunk is a member of the Sciuridae, as are these animals:
- Indian palm squirrel with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Zanj sun squirrel weighting only 347 grams
- Travancore flying squirrel with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Red-cheeked rope squirrel weighting only 250 grams
- Cliff chipmunk with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Olympic marmot with 4 babies per pregnancy
- California chipmunk with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Ribboned rope squirrel with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Siberian chipmunk with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Gray-cheeked flying squirrel with 2 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Merriam’s chipmunk
Those animals also give birth to 4 babies at once:
- Greater hamster-rat
- San Joaquin pocket mouse
- Hooded skunk
- Barbary striped grass mouse
- American mink
- Woodland jumping mouse
- Creek groove-toothed swamp rat
- Tondano rat
- Pale gerbil
- Large New Guinea spiny rat
Animals with the same weight as a Merriam’s chipmunk
What other animals weight around 74 grams (0.16 lbs)?
- Reddish-gray mouse lemur weighting 70 grams
- Moncton’s mosaic-tailed rat weighting 80 grams
- Stephens’s kangaroo rat weighting 68 grams
- Oecomys superans weighting 73 grams
- Fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat weighting 71 grams
- Target rat weighting 70 grams
- Gray-cheeked flying squirrel weighting 63 grams
- Large fruit-eating bat weighting 61 grams
- Aquatic rat weighting 66 grams
- Striped Atlantic Forest rat weighting 67 grams
Animals with the same size as a Merriam’s chipmunk
Also reaching around 13.4 cm (0′ 6″) in size do these animals:
- Long-eared chipmunk gets as big as 14 cm (0′ 6″)
- Eastern mole gets as big as 12.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Common vole gets as big as 11.4 cm (0′ 5″)
- Mindoro climbing rat gets as big as 12.3 cm (0′ 5″)
- Masked flying fox gets as big as 13.6 cm (0′ 6″)
- Feather-tailed possum gets as big as 11.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Chestnut tree mouse gets as big as 11.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Thomas’s mosaic-tailed rat gets as big as 14.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Edwards’s long-tailed giant rat gets as big as 11.6 cm (0′ 5″)
- Tschudi’s slender opossum gets as big as 13.1 cm (0′ 6″)