The average human pregnancy is 40 weeks. This gives mothers ample time to think of a name, get all the baby essentials, and prepare a nursery. However, there are members of the animal kingdom that carry their babies in their bellies for as short as a few weeks or as long as over a year and a half.

We at Bright Side are fascinated with all signs of life from the time of conception to birth and beyond. Just wait until you see how extensive some of these animal pregnancies are.

1. Opossum, 12 days

A raccoon’s typical mating season is during the winter so they can give birth to their young in the spring.

6. Tiger, 110 days

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There are over 100 different species of lemurs. Ring-tailed lemurs usually mate in April and give birth in the summer to about 1 or 2 little ones.

10. Bear, 220 days

, © Hu Chen / Unsplash

Elephants have a gestation period of 95 weeks! That’s more than double a human pregnancy. Because of this, elephants give birth to about 4 calves in their lifetime.

Which of these pregnancy lengths surprised you? How long do you wish your pregnancy could be?