How many baby Steller’s sea cows are in a litter?
A Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) usually gives birth to around 1 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 365 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 1.5 kg (3.31 lbs) and measure 1.5 cm (0′ 1″). They are a member of the Dugongidae family (genus: Hydrodamalis). An adult Steller’s sea cow grows up to a size of 7.63 meter (25′ 1″).
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.
Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) is an extinct sirenian described by Georg Wilhelm Steller in 1741. At that time, it was found only around the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia; its range was more extensive during the Pleistocene epoch, and it is possible that the animal and humans previously interacted. Some 18th-century adults would have reached weights of 8–10 t (8.8–11.0 short tons) and lengths up to 9 m (30 ft).It was a part of the order Sirenia and a member of the family Dugongidae, of which its closest living relative, the 3 m (9.8 ft) long dugong (Dugong dugon), is the sole living member. It had a thicker layer of blubber than other members of the order, an adaptation to the cold waters of its environment. Its tail was forked, like that of whales or dugongs. Lacking true teeth, it had an array of white bristles on its upper lip and two keratinous plates within its mouth for chewing. It fed mainly on kelp, and communicated with sighs and snorting sounds. Evidence suggests it was a monogamous and social animal living in small family groups and raising its young, similar to modern sirenians.Steller’s sea cow was named after Georg Wilhelm Steller, who first encountered it on Vitus Bering’s Great Northern Expedition when the crew became shipwrecked on Bering Island. Much of what is known about its behavior comes from Steller’s observations on the island, documented in his posthumous publication On the Beasts of the Sea. Within 27 years of discovery by Europeans, the slow-moving and easily caught mammal was hunted into extinction for its meat, fat, and hide.
Other animals of the family Dugongidae
Steller’s sea cow is a member of the Dugongidae, as are these animals:
- Dugong with 1 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Steller’s sea cow
Those animals also give birth to 1 babies at once:
- African buffalo
- Striped dolphin
- Rufous elephant shrew
- Canyon bat
- Dryas monkey
- Agile gibbon
- Long-fingered triok
- Granada hare
- Long-nosed mosaic-tailed rat
- Geoffroy’s spider monkey
Animals with the same weight as a Steller’s sea cow
What other animals weight around 4000 kg (8818.48 lbs)?
- African bush elephant usually reaching 3882.27 kgs (8558.93 lbs)
- Hubbs’ beaked whale usually reaching 3400 kgs (7495.71 lbs)
- Sowerby’s beaked whale usually reaching 3400 kgs (7495.71 lbs)
- Northern bottlenose whale usually reaching 3391.68 kgs (7477.37 lbs)
- Asian elephant usually reaching 3294.9 kgs (7264 lbs)
- Cuvier’s beaked whale usually reaching 4772.5 kgs (10521.55 lbs)
- African forest elephant usually reaching 4750 kgs (10471.95 lbs)
- Stejneger’s beaked whale usually reaching 4800 kgs (10582.18 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Steller’s sea cow
Also reaching around 7.63 meter (25′ 1″) in size do these animals:
- Killer whale gets as big as 8.66 meter (28′ 5″)
- Northern bottlenose whale gets as big as 8.79 meter (28′ 10″)
- Gervais’ beaked whale gets as big as 6.71 meter (22′ 1″)
- Southern bottlenose whale gets as big as 6.7 meter (22′ 0″)