How many baby Muskrats are in a litter?
A Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) usually gives birth to around 6 babies.With 2 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 12 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 27 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 22 grams (0.05 lbs) and measure 13.5 cm (0′ 6″). They are a member of the Muridae family (genus: Ondatra). An adult Muskrat grows up to a size of 27.7 cm (0′ 11″).
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 muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), the only species in genus Ondatra and tribe ondatrini, is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitats. It has important effects on the ecology of wetlands, and is a resource of food and fur for humans.The muskrat is the largest species in the subfamily Arvicolinae, which includes 142 other species of rodents, mostly voles and lemmings. Muskrats are referred to as “rats” in a general sense because they are medium-sized rodents with an adaptable lifestyle and an omnivorous diet. They are not, however, members of the genus Rattus.
Other animals of the family Muridae
Muskrat is a member of the Muridae, as are these animals:
- Bougainville naked-tailed rat weighting only 397 grams
- African pygmy mouse with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Shining thicket rat with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Oldfield white-bellied rat weighting only 81 grams
- Bunny rat with 3 babies per pregnancy
- One-toothed shrew mouse weighting only 21 grams
- Distinguished Oldfield mouse weighting only 77 grams
- Banana climbing mouse with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Gerbil leaf-eared mouse weighting only 17 grams
- Tanezumi rat weighting only 140 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Muskrat
Those animals also give birth to 6 babies at once:
- Northern quoll
- Little red kaluta
- California ground squirrel
- Dwarf shrew
- Maximowicz’s vole
- Flat-haired mouse
- Roborovski dwarf hamster
- Eurasian pygmy shrew
- Günther’s vole
- Woolly mouse opossum
Animals that get as old as a Muskrat
Other animals that usually reach the age of 10 years:
- Rufous hare-wallaby with 8 years
- Oncilla with 10 years
- Greater musky fruit bat with 8 years
- Snowshoe hare with 8 years
- Yellow-footed rock-wallaby with 12 years
- Greater bamboo lemur with 12 years
- Greater hedgehog tenrec with 10.5 years
- Eastern pygmy possum with 8 years
- Jamaican coney with 8.25 years
- Black-tailed prairie dog with 8.5 years
Animals with the same weight as a Muskrat
What other animals weight around 992 grams (2.19 lbs)?
- Raffray’s bandicoot weighting 905 grams
- Cape dune mole-rat weighting 804 grams
- Bronze quoll weighting 896 grams
- Common ringtail possum weighting 895 grams
- Black-bearded flying fox weighting 872 grams
- White-tailed prairie dog weighting 964 grams
- Peruvian night monkey weighting 800 grams
- Cuban solenodon weighting 806 grams
- Sable usually reaching 1.17 kgs (2.58 lbs)
- Western quoll usually reaching 1.12 kgs (2.47 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Muskrat
Also reaching around 27.7 cm (0′ 11″) in size do these animals:
- Giant white-tailed rat gets as big as 28.3 cm (1′ 0″)
- Lyle’s flying fox gets as big as 23.7 cm (0′ 10″)
- New Britain water rat gets as big as 29.2 cm (1′ 0″)
- Small-toothed sportive lemur gets as big as 32.4 cm (1′ 1″)
- Orange-brown Atlantic tree-rat gets as big as 22.7 cm (0′ 9″)
- Peruvian tuco-tuco gets as big as 23.8 cm (0′ 10″)
- Columbian ground squirrel gets as big as 29.6 cm (1′ 0″)
- Short-tailed chinchilla gets as big as 30.5 cm (1′ 1″)
- Greater dwarf lemur gets as big as 22.5 cm (0′ 9″)
- Eastern woolly lemur gets as big as 27.5 cm (0′ 11″)