It is hard to guess what a Arctic ground squirrel weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Arctic ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryii) on average weights 747 grams (1.65 lbs).
The Arctic ground squirrel is from the family Sciuridae (genus: Spermophilus). It is usually born with about 11 grams (0.02 lbs). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 27.9 cm (0′ 11″). On average, Arctic ground squirrels can have babies 1 times per year with a litter size of 6.
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 Arctic ground squirrel (Urocitellus parryii) (Inuktitut: ᓯᒃᓯᒃ, siksik) is a species of ground squirrel native to the Arctic and Subarctic of North America and Asia. People in Alaska, particularly around the Aleutians, refer to them as “parka” squirrels, most likely because their pelt is good for the ruff on parkas and for clothing.
Animals of the same family as a Arctic ground squirrel
We found other animals of the Sciuridae family:
- Variegated squirrel with a weight of 485 grams
- Plantain squirrel with a weight of 210 grams
- Palmer’s chipmunk with a weight of 60 grams
- Kinabalu squirrel with a weight of 324 grams
- Least pygmy squirrel with a weight of 21 grams
- Alpine chipmunk with a weight of 36 grams
- Amazon dwarf squirrel with a weight of 92 grams
- Palawan flying squirrel with a size of 22 cm (0′ 9″)
- Red and white giant flying squirrel bringing 1.5 kilos (3.31 lbs) to the scale
- Gambian sun squirrel with a weight of 248 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Arctic ground squirrel
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Spermophilus parryii:
- Namaqua slender mongoose bringing 750 grams to the scale
- Big-headed African mole-rat bringing 622 grams to the scale
- Mountain beaver bringing 806 grams to the scale
- Brown hairy dwarf porcupine bringing 736 grams to the scale
- Giant white-tailed rat bringing 644 grams to the scale
- Peruvian night monkey bringing 800 grams to the scale
- Mottle-faced tamarin bringing 803 grams to the scale
- Ring-tailed vontsira bringing 815 grams to the scale
- Amazon bamboo rat bringing 650 grams to the scale
- Long-nosed short-tailed opossum bringing 765 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Arctic ground squirrel
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Arctic ground squirrel:
- Narrow-striped mongoose with a size of 31.2 cm (1′ 1″)
- Müller’s giant Sunda rat with a size of 23.9 cm (0′ 10″)
- Abert’s squirrel with a size of 26.9 cm (0′ 11″)
- Brown-tailed mongoose with a size of 29.7 cm (1′ 0″)
- Southern needle-clawed bushbaby with a size of 30 cm (1′ 0″)
- Variegated squirrel with a size of 26.3 cm (0′ 11″)
- Cotton-top tamarin with a size of 24 cm (0′ 10″)
- Arizona gray squirrel with a size of 26.4 cm (0′ 11″)
- Red-legged sun squirrel with a size of 23.8 cm (0′ 10″)
- Slender mongoose with a size of 33 cm (1′ 1″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Arctic ground squirrel
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (6) as a Arctic ground squirrel: