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Animal Age

How old does a Tailless tenrec get? (age expectancy)

What is the maximal age a Tailless tenrec reaches?

An adult Tailless tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus) usually gets as old as 6.25 years.

Tailless tenrecs are around 60 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 24 grams (0.05 lbs) and measure 36.8 cm (1′ 3″). As a member of the Tenrecidae family (genus: Tenrec), a Tailless tenrec caries out around 16 little ones per pregnancy, which happens around 1 times a year. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 32.7 cm (1′ 1″).

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.

A Tailless tenrec gets as old as 6.25 years

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

Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Tenrecidae):

Animals that reach the same age as Tailless tenrec

With an average age of 6.25 years, Tailless tenrec are in good companionship of the following animals:

Weighting as much as Tailless tenrec

A fully grown Tailless tenrec reaches around 894 grams (1.97 lbs). So do these animals:

Animals as big as a Tailless tenrec

Those animals grow as big as a Tailless tenrec: