How many baby North American beavers are in a litter?
A North American beaver (Castor canadensis) usually gives birth to around 3 babies.With 1 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 3 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 111 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 415 grams (0.91 lbs) and measure 1.7 cm (0′ 1″). They are a member of the Castoridae family (genus: Castor). An adult North American beaver grows up to a size of 75.7 cm (2′ 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.
The North American beaver (Castor canadensis) is one of two extant beaver species (the other being the Eurasian beaver, Castor fiber). It is native to North America and introduced in South America (Patagonia) and Europe (primarily Finland and Karelia). In the United States and Canada, the species is often referred to simply as “beaver”, though this causes some confusion because another distantly related rodent, Aplodontia rufa, is often called the “mountain beaver”. Other vernacular names, including American beaver and Canadian beaver, distinguish this species from the other extant beaver species, Castor fiber, which is native to Eurasia. The North American beaver is an official animal symbol of Canada and is the official state mammal of Oregon.
Other animals of the family Castoridae
North American beaver is a member of the Castoridae, as are these animals:
- Eurasian beaver with 2 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with North American beaver
Those animals also give birth to 3 babies at once:
- American hog-nosed skunk
- Cape gerbil
- Allen’s squirrel
- Pampas fox
- Meerkat
- Cape gerbil
- Grizzled giant squirrel
- European badger
- Yucatan deer mouse
- Shipton’s mountain cavy
Animals that get as old as a North American beaver
Other animals that usually reach the age of 15 years:
- Greater glider with 15 years
- Black bearded saki with 18 years
- Tayra with 18 years
- Banded palm civet with 12 years
- Brown hyena with 17 years
- Desert rat-kangaroo with 13 years
- Long-nosed potoroo with 12 years
- Masked palm civet with 18 years
- Roe deer with 17 years
- Greater fairy armadillo with 12 years
Animals with the same weight as a North American beaver
What other animals weight around 18.11 kg (39.93 lbs)?
- Dhole usually reaching 15.85 kgs (34.94 lbs)
- Swamp wallaby usually reaching 15 kgs (33.07 lbs)
- Bornean yellow muntjac usually reaching 18.87 kgs (41.6 lbs)
- African clawless otter usually reaching 19.16 kgs (42.24 lbs)
- Gray brocket usually reaching 16.4 kgs (36.16 lbs)
- Olive baboon usually reaching 17.73 kgs (39.09 lbs)
- Ruwenzori duiker usually reaching 15 kgs (33.07 lbs)
- Collared peccary usually reaching 21.19 kgs (46.72 lbs)
- Chinkara usually reaching 18.91 kgs (41.69 lbs)
- Red-necked wallaby usually reaching 16.83 kgs (37.1 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a North American beaver
Also reaching around 75.7 cm (2′ 6″) in size do these animals:
- Red-fronted gazelle gets as big as 88.5 cm (2′ 11″)
- Golden jackal gets as big as 83 cm (2′ 9″)
- Jungle cat gets as big as 70.6 cm (2′ 4″)
- Gray snub-nosed monkey gets as big as 70.7 cm (2′ 4″)
- Maxwell’s duiker gets as big as 84.6 cm (2′ 10″)
- Collared peccary gets as big as 88.6 cm (2′ 11″)
- Pampas cat gets as big as 61.6 cm (2′ 1″)
- Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth gets as big as 69 cm (2′ 4″)
- Collared mangabey gets as big as 66 cm (2′ 2″)
- Thomson’s gazelle gets as big as 88.5 cm (2′ 11″)