How many baby Smith’s voles are in a litter?
A Smith’s vole (Myodes smithii) usually gives birth to around 4 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 19 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 2 grams (0 lbs) and measure 3 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Cricetidae family (genus: Myodes). An adult Smith’s vole grows up to a size of 10.9 cm (0′ 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.
Smith’s vole (Myodes smithii) is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is also known as Smith’s red-backed vole and is found only in Japan.This vole is named after Richard Gordon Smith, (1858–1918) who, after falling out with his wife, traveled the world hunting for animals and keeping a record of his travels and discoveries in eight large leather-bound diaries. He spent some time in Japan where he collected mammals for the British Museum, including the type specimen of this vole.
Other animals of the family Cricetidae
Smith’s vole is a member of the Cricetidae, as are these animals:
- Lesser Wilfred’s mouse weighting only 22 grams
- Northern red-backed vole with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Allegheny woodrat with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Strong-tailed Oldfield mouse weighting only 77 grams
- Abrothrix jelskii weighting only 34 grams
- Handleyomys intectus weighting only 60 grams
- Euryoryzomys russatus weighting only 60 grams
- Northwestern deer mouse with 5 babies per pregnancy
- White-tipped Oldfield mouse raching a size of 11.4 cm (0′ 5″)
- Dark bolo mouse with 4 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Smith’s vole
Those animals also give birth to 4 babies at once:
- Kellen’s dormouse
- Silky mouse
- Oligoryzomys longicaudatus
- Northern birch mouse
- Lesser short-tailed gerbil
- Korean field mouse
- Pale gerbil
- Lesser short-tailed gerbil
- Alpine chipmunk
- Gerbil mouse
Animals that get as old as a Smith’s vole
Other animals that usually reach the age of 3.5 years:
- New Guinean quoll with 3 years
- Northern pocket gopher with 3.75 years
- Black myotis with 3.5 years
- White-footed mouse with 3.17 years
- Lutrine opossum with 3 years
- European hamster with 4 years
- Great Basin pocket mouse with 4 years
- Bicolored shrew with 3 years
- Black-footed tree-rat with 3.83 years
- Water opossum with 3 years
Animals with the same weight as a Smith’s vole
What other animals weight around 34 grams (0.07 lbs)?
- Madagascan large free-tailed bat weighting 33 grams
- Big crested mastiff bat weighting 29 grams
- White-footed climbing mouse weighting 40 grams
- White-bellied slender opossum weighting 34 grams
- Blackish deer mouse weighting 32 grams
- Bibimys torresi weighting 28 grams
- Ash-grey mouse weighting 30 grams
- Naked-rumped tomb bat weighting 31 grams
- Oligoryzomys nigripes weighting 29 grams
- Abrothrix longipilis weighting 38 grams