How many baby Southern African hedgehogs are in a litter?
A Southern African hedgehog (Atelerix frontalis) usually gives birth to around 4 babies.With 1 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 4 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 37 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 10 grams (0.02 lbs) and measure 5.2 cm (0′ 3″). They are a member of the Erinaceidae family (genus: Atelerix). An adult Southern African hedgehog grows up to a size of 18.2 cm (0′ 8″).
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 Southern African hedgehog (Atelerix frontalis) is a species of mammal in the family Erinaceidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Other animals of the family Erinaceidae
Southern African hedgehog is a member of the Erinaceidae, as are these animals:
- Shrew gymnure with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Brandt’s hedgehog with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Desert hedgehog with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Hugh’s hedgehog raching a size of 20 cm (0′ 8″)
- Dinagat gymnure raching a size of 20 cm (0′ 8″)
- Moonrat with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Short-tailed gymnure with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Brandt’s hedgehog with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Indian long-eared hedgehog with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Shrew gymnure with 4 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Southern African hedgehog
Those animals also give birth to 4 babies at once:
- Lesser Egyptian gerbil
- Southern big-eared mouse
- Turkestan red pika
- Kellen’s dormouse
- Kit fox
- Korean field mouse
- Lesser short-tailed gerbil
- Wolf
- Typical striped grass mouse
- Merriam’s chipmunk
Animals with the same weight as a Southern African hedgehog
What other animals weight around 337 grams (0.74 lbs)?
- Social tuco-tuco weighting 400 grams
- Edwards’s long-tailed giant rat weighting 304 grams
- Little red flying fox weighting 379 grams
- Common gundi weighting 289 grams
- Pygmy slow loris weighting 343 grams
- Brown rat weighting 282 grams
- Tome’s spiny rat weighting 285 grams
- Santarem marmoset weighting 375 grams
- Four-toed hedgehog weighting 311 grams
- Greater hedgehog tenrec weighting 277 grams
Animals with the same size as a Southern African hedgehog
Also reaching around 18.2 cm (0′ 8″) in size do these animals:
- Green bush squirrel gets as big as 19.1 cm (0′ 8″)
- Least weasel gets as big as 18.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- Soft-spined Atlantic spiny rat gets as big as 19.7 cm (0′ 8″)
- Red spiny rat gets as big as 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Admiralty flying fox gets as big as 17.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- Island mouse gets as big as 20.8 cm (0′ 9″)
- Yellow-faced pocket gopher gets as big as 19.2 cm (0′ 8″)
- Maxomys baeodon gets as big as 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Nelson’s spiny pocket mouse gets as big as 15.8 cm (0′ 7″)
- Gorongoza gerbil gets as big as 16 cm (0′ 7″)