How big does a Big-headed African mole-rat get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Big-headed African mole-rat (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus) reaches an average size of 20.9 cm (0′ 9″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). A full-grown exemplary reaches roughly 622 grams (1.37 lbs). A Big-headed African mole-rat has 1 babies at once. The Big-headed African mole-rat (genus: Tachyoryctes) is a member of the family Muridae.
As a reference: Humans reach an average body size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) while carrying 62 kg (137 lbs). A human woman is pregnant for 280 days (40 weeks) and on average become 75 years old.
The big-headed African mole rat, (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus), also known as the giant root-rat, Ethiopian African mole rat, or giant mole rat, is a rodent species in the family Spalacidae.It is endemic to Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, where it can reach densities of up to 2,600 individuals per square kilometre. It is threatened by habitat loss. Where the two species overlap, it is the main prey of the endangered Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis).Big-headed African mole rats are highly distinctive in their large size, especially that of their heads. They are a mottled golden-brown in color, and are soft-furred.While the other mole rats not only live but also feed underground, this species mostly forages above ground, by digging a new tunnel to a patch of herbage. It forages for about 20 minutes, until it has exhausted the supply of herbs about its tunnel, after which it blocks the tunnel it has built from the inside. It mostly eats grasses and herbs, with some individuals feeding mostly on roots. It retains its specialisations for digging tunnels because of the constant threat of predators, especially the Ethiopian wolf, which is specialised to a diet of mole rats. Ethiopian wolves catch mole rats by ambushing them after they have constructed a new foraging tunnel, chasing them into their tunnel, and then vigilantly waiting for them to resurface. These mole rats have evolved defenses other than flight, though, being very cautious and having incisors large enough to severely injure potential predators.
Animals of the same family as a Big-headed African mole-rat
We found other animals of the Muridae family:
- Hinde’s rock rat with 2 babies per litter
- Senegal gerbil with 4 babies per litter
- Krebs’s fat mouse with 4 babies per litter
- Incan hocicudo with a weight of 34 grams
- Luzon striped rat with a size of 17.3 cm (0′ 7″)
- Nolthenius’s long-tailed climbing mouse with 4 babies per litter
- Narrow-headed vole with 8 babies per litter
- Mayor’s mouse with 2 babies per litter
- Luzon Cordillera forest mouse with a size of 10.9 cm (0′ 5″)
- Verreaux’s mouse with a weight of 41 grams
Animals with the same size as a Big-headed African mole-rat
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Big-headed African mole-rat:
- Mouse bandicoot with a size of 20 cm (0′ 8″)
- Insular flying fox with a size of 17.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Long-haired rat with a size of 18.6 cm (0′ 8″)
- Large-eared pika with a size of 17.8 cm (0′ 8″)
- White-footed tamarin with a size of 24 cm (0′ 10″)
- Allen’s cotton rat with a size of 17 cm (0′ 7″)
- Grey-bellied squirrel with a size of 21.1 cm (0′ 9″)
- Long-eared hedgehog with a size of 21 cm (0′ 9″)
- Lyle’s flying fox with a size of 23.7 cm (0′ 10″)
- Ferreira’s spiny tree-rat with a size of 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Big-headed African mole-rat
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Big-headed African mole-rat:
- Mona monkey
- Wedge-capped capuchin
- Proserpine rock-wallaby
- Western mastiff bat
- Scimitar oryx
- Mountain tapir
- Natal long-fingered bat
- Sumatran rhinoceros
- Killer whale
- Blackish deer mouse
Animals with the same weight as a Big-headed African mole-rat
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Tachyoryctes macrocephalus:
- Rock squirrel bringing 715 grams to the scale
- Black-footed tree-rat bringing 716 grams to the scale
- Giant pocket gopher bringing 499 grams to the scale
- Bismarck giant rat bringing 613 grams to the scale
- European mink bringing 567 grams to the scale
- Bolivian bamboo rat bringing 729 grams to the scale
- Long-tailed ground squirrel bringing 743 grams to the scale
- Black flying fox bringing 609 grams to the scale
- Golden-headed lion tamarin bringing 573 grams to the scale
- Eastern spotted skunk bringing 568 grams to the scale