It is hard to guess what a Barbary ground squirrel weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Barbary ground squirrel (Atlantoxerus getulus) on average weights 251 grams (0.55 lbs).
The Barbary ground squirrel is from the family Sciuridae (genus: Atlantoxerus). They can live for up to 9 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 18.9 cm (0′ 8″).
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The Barbary ground squirrel (Atlantoxerus getulus) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is monotypic within the genus Atlantoxerus. It is endemic to Western Sahara, Algeria and Morocco and has been introduced into the Canary Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, temperate grassland and rocky areas where it lives colonially in burrows. It was first described by Linnaeus in 1758.
Animals of the same family as a Barbary ground squirrel
We found other animals of the Sciuridae family:
- Selangor pygmy flying squirrel with a weight of 30 grams
- Buller’s chipmunk with a weight of 100 grams
- Black-capped marmot with 5 babies per litter
- Arrow flying squirrel with a weight of 49 grams
- European ground squirrel with a weight of 396 grams
- Horse-tailed squirrel with a weight of 358 grams
- Richmond’s squirrel with a weight of 237 grams
- Plantain squirrel with a weight of 210 grams
- Kashmir flying squirrel with a weight of 510 grams
- Basilan flying squirrel with a size of 24.8 cm (0′ 10″)
Animals with the same weight as a Barbary ground squirrel
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Atlantoxerus getulus:
- Squirrel glider bringing 230 grams to the scale
- Temotu flying fox bringing 274 grams to the scale
- Banks flying fox bringing 210 grams to the scale
- Greedy olalla rat bringing 206 grams to the scale
- Mouse-tailed Atlantic spiny rat bringing 285 grams to the scale
- Drab Atlantic tree-rat bringing 260 grams to the scale
- Large-eared pika bringing 205 grams to the scale
- Goeldi’s spiny rat bringing 284 grams to the scale
- Southern needle-clawed bushbaby bringing 296 grams to the scale
- Samar squirrel bringing 225 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Barbary ground squirrel
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Barbary ground squirrel:
- Solomon’s naked-backed fruit bat with a size of 17.4 cm (0′ 7″)
- Tate’s woolly mouse opossum with a size of 16.8 cm (0′ 7″)
- Temotu flying fox with a size of 17.5 cm (0′ 7″)
- Luzon hairy-tailed rat with a size of 20.4 cm (0′ 9″)
- Javanese flying squirrel with a size of 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Dusky field rat with a size of 15.9 cm (0′ 7″)
- Pygmy treeshrew with a size of 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Greater dwarf lemur with a size of 22.5 cm (0′ 9″)
- San Joaquin antelope squirrel with a size of 16.8 cm (0′ 7″)
- Bridges’s degu with a size of 15.9 cm (0′ 7″)
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Barbary ground squirrel
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Barbary ground squirrel:
- Jaguarundi with an average maximal age of 10.58 years
- American mink with an average maximal age of 10 years
- Black-tailed prairie dog with an average maximal age of 8.5 years
- Black duiker with an average maximal age of 10.17 years
- Brown dorcopsis with an average maximal age of 7.58 years
- Little pocket mouse with an average maximal age of 8.25 years
- Bush dog with an average maximal age of 10.33 years
- Javan mongoose with an average maximal age of 10 years
- Yellow-bellied marmot with an average maximal age of 8 years
- Ord’s kangaroo rat with an average maximal age of 9.75 years