It is hard to guess what a Tailless tenrec weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Tailless tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus) on average weights 894 grams (1.97 lbs).
The Tailless tenrec is from the family Tenrecidae (genus: Tenrec). It is usually born with about 24 grams (0.05 lbs). They can live for up to 6.25 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 32.7 cm (1′ 1″). On average, Tailless tenrecs can have babies 1 times per year with a litter size of 16.
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 tailless tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus), also known as the common tenrec, is a species of mammal in the family Tenrecidae. It is the only member of the genus Tenrec. Native to Madagascar, it is also found in the Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, and Seychelles, where it has been introduced. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, arable land, pastureland, plantations, rural gardens, and urban areas.The tailless tenrec is the largest species of the tenrec family, Tenrecidae. It is 26 to 39 cm (10 to 15½ in) in length and weighs up to 2 kilograms (4.4 lb). It has medium-sized, coarse grey to reddish-grey fur and long, sharp spines along its body. It not only eats small invertebrates among leaves, but also scavenges and hunts frogs and mice. If threatened, this tenrec will scream, erect its spiny hairs to a crest, jump, buck and bite. It shelters in a nest of grass and leaves under a rock, log or bush by day. It gives birth to a litter of as many as 32 young, with an average litter between 15-20 after a gestation of 50–60 days; when young, they have a black-and-white striped appearance. Despite being sometimes known as the tailless tenrec, they have a small tail 1 to 1.5 cm (⅜ to ½ in) in length.The tenrec is the first known tropical mammal found to hibernate for long stretches without arousal periods, up to nine months at a time. The Tailless tenrec is a host of the Acanthocephalan intestinal parasite Promoniliformis ovocristatus.
Animals of the same family as a Tailless tenrec
We found other animals of the Tenrecidae family:
- Highland streaked tenrec with a weight of 102 grams
- Dryad shrew tenrec with a weight of 40 grams
- Ruwenzori otter shrew with a weight of 112 grams
- Pygmy shrew tenrec with a weight of 3 grams
- Shrew-toothed shrew tenrec with a weight of 18 grams
- Thomas’s shrew tenrec with a weight of 22 grams
- Short-tailed shrew tenrec with a weight of 9 grams
- Montane shrew tenrec with a weight of 13 grams
- Drouhard’s shrew tenrec with a weight of 10 grams
- Greater hedgehog tenrec with a weight of 277 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Tailless tenrec
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Tenrec ecaudatus:
- Rock cavy bringing 800 grams to the scale
- American mink bringing 904 grams to the scale
- Gray-bellied night monkey bringing 873 grams to the scale
- Guianan squirrel monkey bringing 750 grams to the scale
- Indian flying fox bringing 822 grams to the scale
- Long-tailed ground squirrel bringing 743 grams to the scale
- Western white-eared giant rat bringing 932 grams to the scale
- Cacomistle bringing 906 grams to the scale
- Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine bringing 751 grams to the scale
- Three-striped night monkey bringing 912 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Tailless tenrec
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Tailless tenrec:
- Bagobo rat with a size of 28.9 cm (1′ 0″)
- Chinese hare with a size of 38 cm (1′ 3″)
- Columbian ground squirrel with a size of 29.6 cm (1′ 0″)
- Volcano rabbit with a size of 29.7 cm (1′ 0″)
- Eastern common cuscus with a size of 38.4 cm (1′ 4″)
- Northern sportive lemur with a size of 28 cm (1′ 0″)
- Black flying squirrel with a size of 38 cm (1′ 3″)
- Bronze quoll with a size of 35.6 cm (1′ 3″)
- Central American squirrel monkey with a size of 28.2 cm (1′ 0″)
- New England cottontail with a size of 36.3 cm (1′ 3″)
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Tailless tenrec
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Tailless tenrec:
- Common degu with an average maximal age of 7.08 years
- Lesser grison with an average maximal age of 7.25 years
- Xerus erythropus with an average maximal age of 6 years
- Spectral bat with an average maximal age of 6.5 years
- California ground squirrel with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Scaly-tailed possum with an average maximal age of 6 years
- Hispid cotton rat with an average maximal age of 5.17 years
- Silky pocket mouse with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Evening bat with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Coruro with an average maximal age of 6 years