How many baby Steppe polecats are in a litter?
A Steppe polecat (Mustela eversmanii) usually gives birth to around 7 babies.With 1 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 7 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 40 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 4 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 6 cm (0′ 3″). They are a member of the Mustelidae family (genus: Mustela). An adult Steppe polecat grows up to a size of 43.2 cm (1′ 6″).
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 steppe polecat (Mustela eversmanii), also known as the white or masked polecat, is a species of mustelid native to Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN because of its wide distribution, occurrence in a number of protected areas, and tolerance to some degree of habitat modification. It is generally of a very light yellowish colour, with dark limbs and a dark mask across the face. Compared to its relative, the European polecat, the steppe polecat is larger in size and has a more powerfully built skull.The steppe polecat is a nomadic animal which typically only settles in one area until its prey, mainly ground squirrels, are extirpated. It mates from March to May, and generally gives birth to litters of three to six kits, which attain their full growth at the age of two years. It hunts for larger prey than the European polecat, including pikas and marmots.
Other animals of the family Mustelidae
Steppe polecat is a member of the Mustelidae, as are these animals:
- Hairy-nosed otter weighting around 5.97 kilograms (13.16 lbs)
- Striped hog-nosed skunk with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Southern river otter weighting around 7.5 kilograms (16.53 lbs)
- Neotropical otter with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Nilgiri marten weighting around 2.04 kilograms (4.5 lbs)
- North American river otter with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Asian small-clawed otter with 1 babies per pregnancy
- American marten with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Marbled polecat with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Mountain weasel with 5 babies per pregnancy
Animals that share a litter size with Steppe polecat
Those animals also give birth to 7 babies at once:
- Taiga shrew
- Little long-tailed dunnart
- Long-tailed ground squirrel
- Red-tailed phascogale
- Fat-tailed dunnart
- Laxmann’s shrew
- Sakhalin vole
- Southern multimammate mouse
- Dibbler
- Common opossum
Animals with the same weight as a Steppe polecat
What other animals weight around 1.68 kg (3.71 lbs)?
- Common kusimanse usually reaching 1.39 kgs (3.06 lbs)
- Marsh rabbit usually reaching 1.36 kgs (3 lbs)
- Java mouse-deer usually reaching 1.88 kgs (4.14 lbs)
- Mountain cuscus usually reaching 1.82 kgs (4.01 lbs)
- Golden bamboo lemur usually reaching 1.57 kgs (3.46 lbs)
- Chinese hare usually reaching 1.61 kgs (3.55 lbs)
- Silvery greater galago usually reaching 1.58 kgs (3.48 lbs)
- Alexander’s kusimanse usually reaching 1.5 kgs (3.31 lbs)
- Snowshoe hare usually reaching 1.57 kgs (3.46 lbs)
- Jamaican coney usually reaching 1.5 kgs (3.31 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Steppe polecat
Also reaching around 43.2 cm (1′ 6″) in size do these animals:
- Common spotted cuscus gets as big as 45.8 cm (1′ 7″)
- White-cheeked spider monkey gets as big as 46 cm (1′ 7″)
- Crowned lemur gets as big as 35.2 cm (1′ 2″)
- Humboldt’s hog-nosed skunk gets as big as 35.4 cm (1′ 2″)
- Raccoon dog gets as big as 44.8 cm (1′ 6″)
- Yellow-bellied marmot gets as big as 41.2 cm (1′ 5″)
- Meller’s mongoose gets as big as 46 cm (1′ 7″)
- Ground cuscus gets as big as 45.4 cm (1′ 6″)
- Alexander’s kusimanse gets as big as 45 cm (1′ 6″)
- Angolan talapoin gets as big as 35.5 cm (1′ 2″)