How many baby Pacific shrews are in a litter?
A Pacific shrew (Sorex pacificus) usually gives birth to around 4 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 Pacific shrew grows up to a size of 7 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.
The Pacific shrew (Sorex pacificus) is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to western Oregon in the United States.The Pacific Shrew is native to western Oregon, more specifically from the Siltcoos lake to the coast going from the border line of Douglas and Lane counties continuing south to the northern parts of California. The very first documented Pacific shrew to be caught was found at the mouth of the Umpqua River in 1858. They are normally found in damp areas along creeks in forests and sometimes near collapsed trees. Their refuge is of the utmost importance and they are seldom found far from it. This includes collapsed trees or dense vegetation. They use the flora to build a nest, gathering small plants such as grass, moss, lichen, or leaves into a pile and pushing themselves into the middle.
Other animals of the family Soricidae
Pacific shrew is a member of the Soricidae, as are these animals:
- Horsfield’s shrew with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Large-eared gray shrew weighting only 5 grams
- Mauritanian shrew weighting only 2 grams
- Climbing shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Ultimate shrew weighting only 16 grams
- Gracile naked-tailed shrew weighting only 14 grams
- Slender shrew with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Apennine shrew weighting only 8 grams
- Negros shrew weighting only 11 grams
- Kelaart’s long-clawed shrew weighting only 36 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Pacific shrew
Those animals also give birth to 4 babies at once:
- Lodgepole chipmunk
- Sandstone false antechinus
- Akodon azarae
- Darwin’s leaf-eared mouse
- Turkestan rat
- European hedgehog
- Kemp’s gerbil
- Desert pocket gopher
- Pygmy spotted skunk
- Common vole
Animals with the same weight as a Pacific shrew
What other animals weight around 10 grams (0.02 lbs)?
- Glen’s wattled bat weighting 10 grams
- Tasmanian pygmy possum weighting 8 grams
- Long-fingered bat weighting 8 grams
- Rafinesque’s big-eared bat weighting 9 grams
- Wandering small-eared shrew weighting 11 grams
- Micronycteris sylvestris weighting 8 grams
- Southern pygmy mouse weighting 9 grams
- Southern dog-faced bat weighting 12 grams
- Common bent-wing bat weighting 11 grams
- Isabelle’s ghost bat weighting 12 grams
Animals with the same size as a Pacific shrew
Also reaching around 7 cm (0′ 3″) in size do these animals:
- Mount Isarog shrew-mouse gets as big as 7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Common noctule gets as big as 7.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Eurasian pygmy shrew gets as big as 5.7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Van Zyl’s golden mole gets as big as 8.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- New Guinean planigale gets as big as 7.7 cm (0′ 4″)
- Nicaraguan harvest mouse gets as big as 7.1 cm (0′ 3″)
- Little yellow-shouldered bat gets as big as 6.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Seba’s short-tailed bat gets as big as 6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Cuban flower bat gets as big as 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- Greater broad-nosed bat gets as big as 8.1 cm (0′ 4″)