How many baby Tailless tenrecs are in a litter?
A Tailless tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus) usually gives birth to around 16 babies.With 1 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 16 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 60 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 24 grams (0.05 lbs) and measure 36.8 cm (1′ 3″). They are a member of the Tenrecidae family (genus: Tenrec). An adult Tailless tenrec grows up to a size of 32.7 cm (1′ 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.
The tailless tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus), also known as the common tenrec, is a species of mammal in the family Tenrecidae. It is the only member of the genus Tenrec. Native to Madagascar, it is also found in the Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, and Seychelles, where it has been introduced. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, arable land, pastureland, plantations, rural gardens, and urban areas.The tailless tenrec is the largest species of the tenrec family, Tenrecidae. It is 26 to 39 cm (10 to 15½ in) in length and weighs up to 2 kilograms (4.4 lb). It has medium-sized, coarse grey to reddish-grey fur and long, sharp spines along its body. It not only eats small invertebrates among leaves, but also scavenges and hunts frogs and mice. If threatened, this tenrec will scream, erect its spiny hairs to a crest, jump, buck and bite. It shelters in a nest of grass and leaves under a rock, log or bush by day. It gives birth to a litter of as many as 32 young, with an average litter between 15-20 after a gestation of 50–60 days; when young, they have a black-and-white striped appearance. Despite being sometimes known as the tailless tenrec, they have a small tail 1 to 1.5 cm (⅜ to ½ in) in length.The tenrec is the first known tropical mammal found to hibernate for long stretches without arousal periods, up to nine months at a time. The Tailless tenrec is a host of the Acanthocephalan intestinal parasite Promoniliformis ovocristatus.
Other animals of the family Tenrecidae
Tailless tenrec is a member of the Tenrecidae, as are these animals:
- Dryad shrew tenrec weighting only 40 grams
- Giant otter shrew with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Large-eared tenrec with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Cowan’s shrew tenrec weighting only 12 grams
- Mole-like rice tenrec weighting only 34 grams
- Least shrew tenrec weighting only 3 grams
- Talazac’s shrew tenrec with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Thomas’s shrew tenrec weighting only 22 grams
- Pygmy shrew tenrec weighting only 3 grams
- Dobson’s shrew tenrec with 2 babies per pregnancy
Animals that get as old as a Tailless tenrec
Other animals that usually reach the age of 6.25 years:
- Abbott’s duiker with 5.42 years
- Southeastern myotis with 6 years
- Bare-tailed woolly opossum with 6.33 years
- Feathertail glider with 7.17 years
- Little free-tailed bat with 5 years
- Coruro with 6 years
- House mouse with 6 years
- Prevost’s squirrel with 5.67 years
- Tropical pocket gopher with 7 years
- North African hedgehog with 7 years
Animals with the same weight as a Tailless tenrec
What other animals weight around 894 grams (1.97 lbs)?
- Stump-tailed porcupine weighting 832 grams
- Long-tailed ground squirrel weighting 743 grams
- Poncelet’s giant rat usually reaching 1 kgs (2.2 lbs)
- Tapeti weighting 988 grams
- Red acouchi weighting 949 grams
- Gray-bellied night monkey weighting 800 grams
- Desert rat-kangaroo weighting 929 grams
- Black-headed night monkey usually reaching 1.06 kgs (2.34 lbs)
- Indian flying fox weighting 822 grams
- Striped polecat weighting 812 grams
Animals with the same size as a Tailless tenrec
Also reaching around 32.7 cm (1′ 1″) in size do these animals:
- Malagasy giant rat gets as big as 30.6 cm (1′ 1″)
- Grandidier’s mongoose gets as big as 35.9 cm (1′ 3″)
- Southern giant slender-tailed cloud rat gets as big as 38.2 cm (1′ 4″)
- New Britain water rat gets as big as 29.2 cm (1′ 0″)
- Golden bandicoot gets as big as 35.5 cm (1′ 2″)
- White-eared opossum gets as big as 36 cm (1′ 3″)
- Greater bamboo lemur gets as big as 37 cm (1′ 3″)
- Colombian white-faced capuchin gets as big as 37.8 cm (1′ 3″)
- Hispaniolan solenodon gets as big as 30.6 cm (1′ 1″)
- Sunda slow loris gets as big as 30 cm (1′ 0″)