How many baby Northern flying squirrels are in a litter?
A Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) 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 40 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 5 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 4.8 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Sciuridae family (genus: Glaucomys). An adult Northern flying squirrel grows up to a size of 16.1 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 northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) is one of three species of the genus Glaucomys, the only flying squirrels found in North America. They are found in coniferous and mixed coniferous forests across much of Canada, from Alaska to Nova Scotia, and south to the mountains of North Carolina and west to Utah, Washington, and Oregon in the United States. They are light brown with pale underparts and grow to a length of 25 to 37 cm (10 to 15 in). They are proficient gliders but clumsy walkers on the ground. They feed on a variety of plant material as well as tree sap, fungi, insects, carrion, bird eggs and nestlings. They mostly breed once a year in a cavity lined with lichen or other soft material. Except when they have young, they change nests frequently, and in winter a number of individuals may huddle together in a shared nest. Unlike most members of their family, flying squirrels are strictly nocturnal.
Other animals of the family Sciuridae
Northern flying squirrel is a member of the Sciuridae, as are these animals:
- Northern Idaho ground squirrel with 7 babies per pregnancy
- Red-tailed chipmunk with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Yellow-throated squirrel weighting only 803 grams
- JunÃn red squirrel weighting only 482 grams
- Philippine tree squirrel raching a size of 21 cm (0′ 9″)
- Baja California rock squirrel weighting only 551 grams
- Indian giant squirrel weighting around 1.06 kilograms (2.34 lbs)
- Bolivian squirrel weighting only 190 grams
- Caucasian squirrel with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Northern palm squirrel with 2 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Northern flying squirrel
Those animals also give birth to 3 babies at once:
- Neotropical otter
- Japanese mountain mole
- Large-eared tenrec
- Black-eared mouse
- White-tailed rat
- American hog-nosed skunk
- European pine marten
- Meerkat
- Nine-banded armadillo
- Cotton mouse
Animals that get as old as a Northern flying squirrel
Other animals that usually reach the age of 13 years:
- Striped skunk with 12.92 years
- Greater fairy armadillo with 12 years
- Mountain reedbuck with 12.25 years
- White-tailed mongoose with 12 years
- Red panda with 14 years
- Common brushtail possum with 14.67 years
- Grey rhebok with 12.25 years
- Long-tailed chinchilla with 11.25 years
- Tricolored bat with 15 years
- Southern flying squirrel with 12 years
Animals with the same weight as a Northern flying squirrel
What other animals weight around 138 grams (0.3 lbs)?
- Large-scaled mosaic-tailed rat weighting 117 grams
- Rajah spiny rat weighting 150 grams
- Savanna gerbil weighting 121 grams
- Holochilus brasiliensis weighting 155 grams
- Bridges’s degu weighting 162 grams
- Shaw Mayer’s brush mouse weighting 111 grams
- Black-tailed tree rat weighting 125 grams
- Echigo mole weighting 163 grams
- Pygmy ringtail possum weighting 151 grams
- Lowland streaked tenrec weighting 129 grams
Animals with the same size as a Northern flying squirrel
Also reaching around 16.1 cm (0′ 7″) in size do these animals:
- Dusky bushbaby gets as big as 16 cm (0′ 7″)
- Red-bellied marsupial shrew gets as big as 17.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- Yellow-nosed cotton rat gets as big as 15.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Shaw Mayer’s brush mouse gets as big as 14.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Ornate flying fox gets as big as 18.3 cm (0′ 8″)
- White-bellied mosaic-tailed rat gets as big as 15.3 cm (0′ 7″)
- Three-striped ground squirrel gets as big as 17.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Slender treeshrew gets as big as 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Ferreira’s spiny tree-rat gets as big as 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Silky anteater gets as big as 17.7 cm (0′ 7″)