It is hard to guess what a California kangaroo rat weights. But we have the answer:
An adult California kangaroo rat (Dipodomys californicus) on average weights 85 grams (0.19 lbs).
The California kangaroo rat is from the family Heteromyidae (genus: Dipodomys). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 11.5 cm (0′ 5″). On average, California kangaroo rats can have babies 2 times per year with a litter size of 2.
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 California kangaroo rat (Dipodomys californicus) is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. However, populations are declining, having not fully recovered after the drought in California from 2013-2015 destroyed their habitat (the grasslands) and changed it into desert.
Animals of the same family as a California kangaroo rat
We found other animals of the Heteromyidae family:
- Plains pocket mouse with a weight of 9 grams
- Nelson’s spiny pocket mouse with a weight of 67 grams
- Jaliscan spiny pocket mouse with a weight of 65 grams
- San Joaquin pocket mouse with a weight of 10 grams
- Narrow-faced kangaroo rat with a weight of 81 grams
- Nelson’s kangaroo rat with a weight of 87 grams
- Little desert pocket mouse with a weight of 23 grams
- Silky pocket mouse with a weight of 7 grams
- Little pocket mouse with a weight of 8 grams
- Hispid pocket mouse with a weight of 35 grams
Animals with the same weight as a California kangaroo rat
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Dipodomys californicus:
- Slender Oldfield mouse bringing 77 grams to the scale
- Eastern chestnut mouse bringing 79 grams to the scale
- Long-footed water rat bringing 83 grams to the scale
- Pink fairy armadillo bringing 86 grams to the scale
- Leschenault’s rousette bringing 84 grams to the scale
- Dark-tailed tree rat bringing 71 grams to the scale
- Gray-tailed narrow-headed rat bringing 85 grams to the scale
- Cauca climbing mouse bringing 89 grams to the scale
- Oecomys cleberi bringing 73 grams to the scale
- Marmoset rat bringing 70 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a California kangaroo rat
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as California kangaroo rat:
- Olive grass mouse with a size of 9.6 cm (0′ 4″)
- Ghost bat with a size of 11.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Ethiopian epauletted fruit bat with a size of 9.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- Pocock’s highland rat with a size of 12.8 cm (0′ 6″)
- Forest Oldfield mouse with a size of 10.6 cm (0′ 5″)
- Alpine chipmunk with a size of 10.4 cm (0′ 5″)
- Black-tailed mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 13.6 cm (0′ 6″)
- Tyler’s mouse opossum with a size of 11.9 cm (0′ 5″)
- Lesser Egyptian jerboa with a size of 10.2 cm (0′ 5″)
- Painted spiny pocket mouse with a size of 11.4 cm (0′ 5″)
Animals with the same litter size as a California kangaroo rat
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (2) as a California kangaroo rat: