How many baby Nimba otter shrews are in a litter?
A Nimba otter shrew (Micropotamogale lamottei) usually gives birth to around 3 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 3 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 4.3 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Tenrecidae family (genus: Micropotamogale). An adult Nimba otter shrew grows up to a size of 16 cm (0′ 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.
The Nimba otter shrew (Micropotamogale lamottei) is a dwarf otter shrew and belongs to the mammal family Potamogalidae. Otter shrews are shrew-like afrotherian mammals found in sub-Saharan Africa. They are most closely related to the tenrecs of Madagascar. This species belongs to the genus Micropotamogale, literally meaning “tiny river weasel”. It is native to the Mount Nimba area which rests along the border of Liberia, Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in West Africa.
Other animals of the family Tenrecidae
Nimba otter shrew is a member of the Tenrecidae, as are these animals:
- Tailless tenrec with 16 babies per pregnancy
- Pygmy shrew tenrec weighting only 4 grams
- Web-footed tenrec with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Mole-like rice tenrec weighting only 34 grams
- Large-eared tenrec with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Least shrew tenrec weighting only 3 grams
- Lesser long-tailed shrew tenrec weighting only 8 grams
- Greater long-tailed shrew tenrec weighting only 10 grams
- Naked-nosed shrew tenrec weighting only 18 grams
- Thomas’s shrew tenrec weighting only 22 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Nimba otter shrew
Those animals also give birth to 3 babies at once:
- Malayan field rat
- Kobe mole
- Oligoryzomys fulvescens
- Bengal fox
- Deroo’s mouse
- Narrow-striped marsupial shrew
- Northern brown bandicoot
- Western chestnut mouse
- Heath mouse
- East African highland shrew
Animals with the same weight as a Nimba otter shrew
What other animals weight around 69 grams (0.15 lbs)?
- Web-footed tenrec weighting 77 grams
- Issel’s groove-toothed swamp rat weighting 60 grams
- Bornean smooth-tailed treeshrew weighting 60 grams
- Hainan gymnure weighting 58 grams
- Northern collared lemming weighting 58 grams
- Heath mouse weighting 72 grams
- Euryoryzomys russatus weighting 60 grams
- Euryoryzomys russatus weighting 60 grams
- Southern big-eared mouse weighting 70 grams
- Least weasel weighting 79 grams
Animals with the same size as a Nimba otter shrew
Also reaching around 16 cm (0′ 7″) in size do these animals:
- Lesser tufted-tailed rat gets as big as 12.8 cm (0′ 6″)
- Bridges’s degu gets as big as 15.9 cm (0′ 7″)
- Southern African vlei rat gets as big as 16.3 cm (0′ 7″)
- Greater tree mouse gets as big as 14.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Broad-footed mole gets as big as 14.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Cape York melomys gets as big as 13.6 cm (0′ 6″)
- Western New Guinea mountain rat gets as big as 13.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Long-nosed paramelomys gets as big as 17 cm (0′ 7″)
- Long-tailed mountain rat gets as big as 15.9 cm (0′ 7″)
- Anthony’s woodrat gets as big as 17.9 cm (0′ 8″)