How many baby Merriam’s shrews are in a litter?
A Merriam’s shrew (Sorex merriami) usually gives birth to around 5 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 5 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 1.6 cm (0′ 1″). They are a member of the Soricidae family (genus: Sorex). An adult Merriam’s 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.
Merriam’s shrew (Sorex merriami) is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to the western United States and extreme southern British Columbia in Canada.
Other animals of the family Soricidae
Merriam’s shrew is a member of the Soricidae, as are these animals:
- Lesser red musk shrew with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Mauritanian shrew weighting only 2 grams
- Crosse’s shrew with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Ornate shrew with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Flat-skulled shrew with 7 babies per pregnancy
- Himalayan shrew with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Grant’s forest shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Saussure’s shrew weighting only 4 grams
- Japanese water shrew weighting only 36 grams
- Lesser striped shrew raching a size of 6.8 cm (0′ 3″)
Animals that share a litter size with Merriam’s shrew
Those animals also give birth to 5 babies at once:
- Tiger quoll
- Smoky shrew
- Black rat
- Asia Minor ground squirrel
- European rabbit
- Kultarr
- Greater long-nosed armadillo
- Olive grass mouse
- Grey red-backed vole
- Middendorf’s vole
Animals with the same weight as a Merriam’s shrew
What other animals weight around 5 grams (0.01 lbs)?
- Dormer’s bat weighting 6 grams
- White-winged serotine weighting 5 grams
- De Winton’s long-eared bat weighting 6 grams
- Sahelian tiny shrew weighting 6 grams
- Somali serotine weighting 4 grams
- Brown pipistrelle weighting 6 grams
- Spurred roundleaf bat weighting 6 grams
- Tricolored bat weighting 5 grams
- Pipistrellus babu weighting 4 grams
- Groove-toothed bat weighting 4 grams
Animals with the same size as a Merriam’s shrew
Also reaching around 6 cm (0′ 3″) in size do these animals:
- Mexican small-eared shrew gets as big as 6.1 cm (0′ 3″)
- Underwood’s long-tongued bat gets as big as 5.9 cm (0′ 3″)
- Siberian large-toothed shrew gets as big as 7.1 cm (0′ 3″)
- Southern red-sided opossum gets as big as 7.2 cm (0′ 3″)
- Lesser ranee mouse gets as big as 6.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Seychelles sheath-tailed bat gets as big as 6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Saharan shrew gets as big as 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- Chinese shrew gets as big as 7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Mount Isarog shrew-mouse gets as big as 7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Western harvest mouse gets as big as 6.9 cm (0′ 3″)