How many baby Southern giant slender-tailed cloud rats are in a litter?
A Southern giant slender-tailed cloud rat (Phloeomys cumingi) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 2 grams (0 lbs) and measure 6.9 cm (0′ 3″). They are a member of the Muridae family (genus: Phloeomys). An adult Southern giant slender-tailed cloud rat grows up to a size of 38.2 cm (1′ 4″).
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 giant slender-tailed cloud rat or southern Luzon giant cloud rat (Phloeomys cumingi) is a vulnerable species of rodent in the family Muridae, found only in southern Luzon in the Philippines. It is dark brown, occasionally with some reddish, but lacking the light-coloured sections usually seen in its close relative, the northern Luzon giant cloud rat (P. pallidus). The southern giant slender-tailed cloud rat is a large rodent that has a total length of about 67–75 cm (26–30 in) and weighs 1.45–2.1 kg (3.2–4.6 lb).Equally at home high amongst the branches of a tree as on the forest floor, the southern giant slender-tailed cloud rat is a slow-moving animal only active at night, spending the day in hollow trees or logs. It usually lives singly, or in pairs consisting of an adult male and female, or a female and her young, but larger groups have also been seen. Their diet consists primarily of tender, young leaves, but fruit is also reportedly eaten. The southern giant slender-tailed cloud rat typically gives birth to a single pup each year, with data indicating that most births take place during the late rainy season. The young are born in the hollow of a standing or fallen tree, or in a hole in the ground. The mother carries her young firmly attached to a nipple. In captivity, one cloud rat lived for over 13 years.
Other animals of the family Muridae
Southern giant slender-tailed cloud rat is a member of the Muridae, as are these animals:
- Blazed Luzon shrew-rat raching a size of 19.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Ilin Island cloudrunner raching a size of 25.3 cm (0′ 10″)
- Northern Luzon giant cloud rat weighting around 1.75 kilograms (3.86 lbs)
- Nephelomys auriventer weighting only 60 grams
- Harrington’s rat weighting only 90 grams
- Bush vlei rat with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Common vole with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Gerbil leaf-eared mouse weighting only 17 grams
- Puna mouse with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Island mouse weighting only 164 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Southern giant slender-tailed cloud rat
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- Large-footed bat
- Rothschild’s woolly rat
- Eastern rock elephant shrew
- Northern naked-tailed armadillo
- Temminck’s flying squirrel
- Southeast Asian long-fingered bat
- Southwestern myotis
- Short-footed Luzon tree rat
- Natal red rock hare
- Spectacled flying fox
Animals with the same weight as a Southern giant slender-tailed cloud rat
What other animals weight around 1.84 kg (4.06 lbs)?
- Swift fox usually reaching 2.11 kgs (4.65 lbs)
- Common genet usually reaching 1.77 kgs (3.9 lbs)
- Riverine rabbit usually reaching 1.75 kgs (3.86 lbs)
- Chacoan naked-tailed armadillo usually reaching 1.49 kgs (3.28 lbs)
- Steppe polecat usually reaching 1.68 kgs (3.7 lbs)
- Lake Mackay hare-wallaby usually reaching 1.5 kgs (3.31 lbs)
- Alpine woolly rat usually reaching 2.04 kgs (4.5 lbs)
- Platypus usually reaching 1.48 kgs (3.26 lbs)
- Swamp rabbit usually reaching 2.14 kgs (4.72 lbs)
- Northern brushtail possum usually reaching 1.55 kgs (3.42 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Southern giant slender-tailed cloud rat
Also reaching around 38.2 cm (1′ 4″) in size do these animals:
- Banded mongoose gets as big as 36.3 cm (1′ 3″)
- Raffray’s bandicoot gets as big as 34.6 cm (1′ 2″)
- Mexican cottontail gets as big as 43.5 cm (1′ 6″)
- Dice’s cottontail gets as big as 37.4 cm (1′ 3″)
- European rabbit gets as big as 40 cm (1′ 4″)
- White-eared opossum gets as big as 36 cm (1′ 3″)
- Ground cuscus gets as big as 45.4 cm (1′ 6″)
- Black dwarf porcupine gets as big as 35 cm (1′ 2″)
- White-tailed prairie dog gets as big as 30.7 cm (1′ 1″)
- Small-toothed sportive lemur gets as big as 32.4 cm (1′ 1″)