How many baby Townsend’s ground squirrels are in a litter?
A Townsend’s ground squirrel (Spermophilus townsendii) usually gives birth to around 8 babies.With 1 litters per year, that sums up to a yearly offspring of 8 babies.
Each of those little ones spend around 22 days as a fetus before they are released into the wild. Upon birth, they weight 3 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 4.6 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Sciuridae family (genus: Spermophilus). An adult Townsend’s ground squirrel grows up to a size of 17.3 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.
Townsend’s ground squirrel (Urocitellus townsendii) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is found in high desert shrublands in several areas of the United States.
Other animals of the family Sciuridae
Townsend’s ground squirrel is a member of the Sciuridae, as are these animals:
- Variegated squirrel with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Groundhog with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Busuanga squirrel raching a size of 21 cm (0′ 9″)
- Shrew-faced squirrel with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Deppe’s squirrel with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Least pygmy squirrel with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Red-cheeked rope squirrel weighting only 250 grams
- Palawan montane squirrel raching a size of 21 cm (0′ 9″)
- Basilan flying squirrel raching a size of 24.8 cm (0′ 10″)
- JunÃn red squirrel weighting only 482 grams
Animals that share a litter size with Townsend’s ground squirrel
Those animals also give birth to 8 babies at once:
- Grayish mouse opossum
- Steppe pika
- Chestnut dunnart
- Eurasian least shrew
- African wild dog
- White-bellied woolly mouse opossum
- European polecat
- White-tailed antelope squirrel
- Campbell’s dwarf hamster
- Brown rat
Animals with the same weight as a Townsend’s ground squirrel
What other animals weight around 207 grams (0.46 lbs)?
- Greenish naked-backed fruit bat weighting 236 grams
- Cameroon scaly-tail weighting 200 grams
- Fossorial giant rat weighting 168 grams
- Salta tuco-tuco weighting 230 grams
- Ear-spot squirrel weighting 209 grams
- Speckled dasyure weighting 212 grams
- Shrew-faced squirrel weighting 230 grams
- Long-tailed weasel weighting 191 grams
- Desert pocket gopher weighting 206 grams
- Broad-headed spiny rat weighting 201 grams
Animals with the same size as a Townsend’s ground squirrel
Also reaching around 17.3 cm (0′ 7″) in size do these animals:
- Royle’s pika gets as big as 17.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Greater fairy armadillo gets as big as 15.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Northern pika gets as big as 16 cm (0′ 7″)
- Long-nosed paramelomys gets as big as 17 cm (0′ 7″)
- Large mole gets as big as 14.9 cm (0′ 6″)
- Short-tailed hopping mouse gets as big as 14.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Long-haired rat gets as big as 18.6 cm (0′ 8″)
- Pygmy mouse lemur gets as big as 14.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Desert woodrat gets as big as 16.3 cm (0′ 7″)
- Long-tailed mountain rat gets as big as 15.9 cm (0′ 7″)