How many baby Sand cats are in a litter?
A Sand cat (Felis margarita) usually gives birth to around 4 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 63 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 64 grams (0.14 lbs) and measure 8.3 cm (0′ 4″). They are a member of the Felidae family (genus: Felis). An adult Sand cat grows up to a size of 51.3 cm (1′ 9″).
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 sand cat (Felis margarita), also known as the sand dune cat, is a small wild cat living in sandy and stony deserts far from water sources. With its sandy to light grey fur, it is well camouflaged in a desert environment. Its head-and-body length ranges from 39–52 cm (15–20 in) with a 23–31 cm (9.1–12.2 in) long tail. Its 5–7 cm (2.0–2.8 in) long ears are set low on the sides of the head, aiding detection of prey moving underground. The long hair covering the soles of its feet insulate its foot pads against the extremely hot and cold temperatures in deserts.The first sand cat known to science was discovered in the Algerian Sahara and described in 1858. To date, it has been recorded in several disjunct locations in Morocco, Algeria, Niger, Chad and Egypt. In Central Asia, it was recorded for the first time in the mid 1920s in the Karakum Desert. The large gap between these two regions of its global range was partially closed in 1948, when a sand cat skin was found in an oasis of the Rub’ al Khali in Oman. It is discontinuously distributed in the deserts of the Arabian peninsula and the Middle East. In the early 1970s, sand cats were caught in southwestern Pakistan and exported to zoos worldwide. Due to its wide distribution, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.The sand cat usually rests in underground dens during the day and hunts at night. It moves 5.4 km (3.4 mi) on average at night in search of small rodents and birds. Among the Tuareg people, it has the reputation to kill even venomous snakes efficiently. In spring, the female gives birth to two to three kittens, which become sexually mature around the age of one year. Its ecological requirements are still poorly understood, as only a few in-depth studies targeting wild sand cat populations have been carried out.
Other animals of the family Felidae
Sand cat is a member of the Felidae, as are these animals:
- Cheetah with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Andean mountain cat weighting around 8.13 kilograms (17.92 lbs)
- Rusty-spotted cat with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Andean mountain cat weighting around 8.13 kilograms (17.92 lbs)
- Snow leopard with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Bobcat with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Pallas’s cat with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Tiger with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Lion with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Pampas cat with 2 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Sand cat
Those animals also give birth to 4 babies at once:
- Large-eared pika
- Giant forest hog
- Gracile tateril
- Greater stripe-backed shrew
- Woodland jumping mouse
- Tamarisk jird
- Malayan weasel
- Eastern heather vole
- Long-tailed dunnart
- Pale gerbil
Animals with the same weight as a Sand cat
What other animals weight around 2.82 kg (6.22 lbs)?
- Mexican cottontail usually reaching 2.49 kgs (5.49 lbs)
- Jackson’s mongoose usually reaching 2.5 kgs (5.51 lbs)
- Central American agouti usually reaching 2.31 kgs (5.09 lbs)
- Quokka usually reaching 3.03 kgs (6.68 lbs)
- Black lemur usually reaching 2.48 kgs (5.47 lbs)
- Jameson’s red rock hare usually reaching 2.38 kgs (5.25 lbs)
- Kinkajou usually reaching 2.45 kgs (5.4 lbs)
- Southern tree hyrax usually reaching 2.71 kgs (5.97 lbs)
- Owston’s palm civet usually reaching 3.27 kgs (7.21 lbs)
- Ethiopian highland hare usually reaching 2.77 kgs (6.11 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Sand cat
Also reaching around 51.3 cm (1′ 9″) in size do these animals:
- Toque macaque gets as big as 48 cm (1′ 7″)
- Purple-faced langur gets as big as 58.5 cm (2′ 0″)
- Small Indian civet gets as big as 54 cm (1′ 10″)
- Cozumel raccoon gets as big as 42.8 cm (1′ 5″)
- Black dorcopsis gets as big as 59.2 cm (2′ 0″)
- Tehuantepec jackrabbit gets as big as 54.9 cm (1′ 10″)
- Giant forest genet gets as big as 57.2 cm (1′ 11″)
- Black-headed spider monkey gets as big as 48.9 cm (1′ 8″)
- Asian small-clawed otter gets as big as 51.6 cm (1′ 9″)
- Stripe-necked mongoose gets as big as 47.8 cm (1′ 7″)