What is the maximal age a Cape mole-rat reaches?
An adult Cape mole-rat (Georychus capensis) usually gets as old as 3 years.
Cape mole-rats are around 43 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 8 grams (0.02 lbs) and measure 3.4 cm (0′ 2″). As a member of the Bathyergidae family (genus: Georychus), a Cape mole-rat caries out around 5 little ones per pregnancy, which happens around 2 times a year. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 17.2 cm (0′ 7″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
The Cape mole-rat (Georychus capensis) is a species of mole-rat endemic to South Africa. It is the only living species in the genus Georychus.
Animals of the same family as a Cape mole-rat
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Bathyergidae):
- Common mole-rat with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Bocage’s mole-rat bringing the scale to 93 grams
- Silvery mole-rat becoming 3.08 years old
- Namaqua dune mole-rat with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Zambian mole-rat bringing the scale to 76 grams
- Mechow’s mole-rat with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Mashona mole-rat with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Cape dune mole-rat with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Naked mole-rat becoming 10 years old
- Damaraland mole-rat with 3 babies per pregnancy
Animals that reach the same age as Cape mole-rat
With an average age of 3 years, Cape mole-rat are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Gray four-eyed opossum usually reaching 3.5 years
- Water opossum usually reaching 3 years
- African wading rat usually reaching 3 years
- Japanese mole usually reaching 3.5 years
- Lesser white-toothed shrew usually reaching 2.67 years
- Greater white-toothed shrew usually reaching 3.17 years
- Field vole usually reaching 3.25 years
- Yellow-footed antechinus usually reaching 3.5 years
- Banner-tailed kangaroo rat usually reaching 3 years
- Tome’s spiny rat usually reaching 2.58 years
Animals with the same number of babies Cape mole-rat
The same number of babies at once (5) are born by:
- Striped field mouse
- Olive grass mouse
- Long-eared chipmunk
- Cliff chipmunk
- Lesser fat-tailed jerboa
- Woosnam’s broad-headed mouse
- Montane vole
- Long-tailed dwarf hamster
- Yellow-pine chipmunk
- New Guinean rat
Weighting as much as Cape mole-rat
A fully grown Cape mole-rat reaches around 189 grams (0.42 lbs). So do these animals:
- Desert pocket gopher with 206 grams
- Biak naked-backed fruit bat with 200 grams
- Western naked-backed fruit bat with 226 grams
- White-tailed antsangy with 205 grams
- Pallid Atlantic tree-rat with 215 grams
- Small sun squirrel with 174 grams
- Brandt’s hedgehog with 213 grams
- Colombian weasel with 211 grams
- Three-striped ground squirrel with 175 grams
- Mendoza tuco-tuco with 179 grams