How many baby Taiga voles are in a litter?
A Taiga vole (Microtus xanthognathus) usually gives birth to around 8 babies.With 2 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 16 babies.
Upon birth, they weight 3 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 3.2 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Muridae family (genus: Microtus). An adult Taiga vole grows up to a size of 15.6 cm (0′ 7″).
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 taiga vole (Microtus xanthognathus) is a large vole found in northwestern North America, including Alaska and northwestern Canada. The name “taiga vole” comes from its living in the boreal taiga zone. It is also sometimes called the yellow-cheeked vole or chestnut-cheeked vole because of the rusty-yellow color on its face around its vibrisae (whiskers); The taiga voles derive their name from these features: “xantho” is Greek for yellow and “gnathus” is Greek for jaw. It is typically much larger than most other North American voles, especially those from the genus Microtus.An adult taiga vole, excluding tail length, usually ranges from 186–226 mm (7.3–8.9 in) in length and usually weighs 140–170 g (4.9–6.0 oz).This species is found in northern forests near water or bogs. It makes runways through the surface growth and burrows. It is usually found in colonies. It feeds on grasses, lichens, horsetails and berries. It stores food in its burrows for the winter. Like the singing vole, this animal may give a warning call to alert other members of the colony of danger.The female vole has litters of 7 to 10 young. The vole population in a given area can vary greatly from year to year.They are active year-round, usually during dark periods.Although not commonly encountered, they can be locally abundant.The taiga vole is from the order Rodentia and the family Muridae.
Other animals of the family Muridae
Taiga vole is a member of the Muridae, as are these animals:
- Fraternal hill rat weighting only 130 grams
- Natal multimammate mouse with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Gambian pouched rat with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Neacomys spinosus weighting only 19 grams
- Soft-furred Oldfield mouse weighting only 35 grams
- Ranee mouse raching a size of 7.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Plains harvest mouse with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Oligoryzomys arenalis weighting only 25 grams
- Insular vole with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Darling Downs hopping mouse weighting only 89 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Taiga vole
Those animals also give birth to 8 babies at once:
- San Joaquin antelope squirrel
- Tundra shrew
- Townsend’s ground squirrel
- Cinnamon antechinus
- Chestnut dunnart
- White-bellied woolly mouse opossum
- Grayish mouse opossum
- Dusky antechinus
- Cheesman’s gerbil
- Grayish mouse opossum
Animals with the same weight as a Taiga vole
What other animals weight around 92 grams (0.2 lbs)?
- Goliath shrew weighting 87 grams
- Commerson’s roundleaf bat weighting 92 grams
- Bare-backed rousette weighting 92 grams
- Water vole (North America) weighting 92 grams
- Petter’s tufted-tailed rat weighting 75 grams
- Golden Oldfield mouse weighting 88 grams
- Sloggett’s vlei rat weighting 106 grams
- Least weasel weighting 79 grams
- Greater musky fruit bat weighting 79 grams
- Narrow-faced kangaroo rat weighting 81 grams
Animals with the same size as a Taiga vole
Also reaching around 15.6 cm (0′ 7″) in size do these animals:
- Fly River water rat gets as big as 14.6 cm (0′ 6″)
- Nectomys squamipes gets as big as 18.2 cm (0′ 8″)
- Highland brush mouse gets as big as 12.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Coxing’s white-bellied rat gets as big as 13 cm (0′ 6″)
- Dusky mosaic-tailed rat gets as big as 15.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Large tree mouse gets as big as 13.6 cm (0′ 6″)
- Emilia’s short-tailed opossum gets as big as 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- European mole gets as big as 12.9 cm (0′ 6″)
- Australian swamp rat gets as big as 16 cm (0′ 7″)
- Eastern rat gets as big as 17.3 cm (0′ 7″)