How many baby Riverine rabbits are in a litter?
A Riverine rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 42 grams (0.09 lbs) and measure 7.2 cm (0′ 3″). They are a member of the Leporidae family (genus: Bunolagus). An adult Riverine rabbit grows up to a size of 43 cm (1′ 5″).
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 riverine rabbit (Bunolagus monticularis), also known as the bushman rabbit or bushman hare, is one of the most endangered mammals in the world, with only around 500 living adults, and 1500 overall. This rabbit has an extremely limited distribution area, found only in the central and southern regions of the Karoo Desert of South Africa’s Northern Cape Province. It is the only member of the genus Bunolagus because of unique traits that separate it from the other lagomorphs in the genus Lepus. There is still controversy and debate between taxonomists over its classification. Many tests and karyotypic analysis has been performed on hares from the genus Lepus to compare the riverine rabbit to others that are classified as true hares.They have a diet which consists of mostly plants and vegetation, but their usual food sources are being diminished, causing a scarcity for their population. This food loss is also connected to other problems such as with forming burrows. A unique aspect of its biology is that females can only produce one offspring per year. This contributes to how it is classified as critically endangered, which is the most severe classification available. Other unique traits include being nocturnal, and producing two different types of droppings. Currently, there are conservation plans being enacted to help with its decreasing population and habitat.
Other animals of the family Leporidae
Riverine rabbit is a member of the Leporidae, as are these animals:
- White-sided jackrabbit with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Yarkand hare with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Brush rabbit with 3 babies per pregnancy
- San José brush rabbit raching a size of 29.4 cm (1′ 0″)
- Tres Marias rabbit weighting only 964 grams
- Tapeti with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Natal red rock hare with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Dice’s cottontail with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Woolly hare with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Arctic hare with 5 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Riverine rabbit
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- Pel’s pouched bat
- Preuss’s red colobus
- Kolan vole
- Davis’s round-eared bat
- Bontebok
- Bechstein’s bat
- Long-fingered triok
- Little Japanese horseshoe bat
- Hawaiian monk seal
- Harp seal
Animals with the same weight as a Riverine rabbit
What other animals weight around 1.75 kg (3.86 lbs)?
- Java mouse-deer usually reaching 1.88 kgs (4.14 lbs)
- Southern long-nosed armadillo usually reaching 1.5 kgs (3.31 lbs)
- Rock-haunting ringtail possum usually reaching 1.88 kgs (4.14 lbs)
- Coppery ringtail possum usually reaching 1.77 kgs (3.9 lbs)
- Lac Alaotra bamboo lemur usually reaching 1.62 kgs (3.57 lbs)
- African savanna hare usually reaching 1.76 kgs (3.88 lbs)
- Long-footed potoroo usually reaching 1.84 kgs (4.06 lbs)
- Small dorcopsis usually reaching 1.89 kgs (4.17 lbs)
- Pichi usually reaching 1.49 kgs (3.28 lbs)
- Red and white giant flying squirrel usually reaching 1.5 kgs (3.31 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Riverine rabbit
Also reaching around 43 cm (1′ 5″) in size do these animals:
- Alpine woolly rat gets as big as 44.2 cm (1′ 6″)
- Menzies’ echymipera gets as big as 34.9 cm (1′ 2″)
- Swift fox gets as big as 50.5 cm (1′ 8″)
- Jamaican coney gets as big as 37.8 cm (1′ 3″)
- Coppery titi gets as big as 35.5 cm (1′ 2″)
- Korean hare gets as big as 46.5 cm (1′ 7″)
- Aye-aye gets as big as 40 cm (1′ 4″)
- Large-spotted civet gets as big as 42.4 cm (1′ 5″)
- Hispid hare gets as big as 46 cm (1′ 7″)
- Long-footed potoroo gets as big as 35.9 cm (1′ 3″)