How big does a Black-shouldered opossum get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Black-shouldered opossum (Caluromysiops irrupta) reaches an average size of 23.4 cm (0′ 10″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). Usually, they reach an age of 7.83 years. A full-grown exemplary reaches roughly 258 grams (0.57 lbs). A Black-shouldered opossum has 2 babies at once. The Black-shouldered opossum (genus: Caluromysiops) is a member of the family Didelphidae.
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 black-shouldered opossum (Caluromysiops irrupta), also known as the white-eared opossum is an opossum known from western Brazil and southeastern Peru. It was first described by Colin Campbell Sanborn, curator of Field Museum of Natural History, in 1951. The black-shouldered opossum is characterized by a gray coat, gray underbelly, and broad black stripes that extend from the forefeet, meet on the shoulders, run along the midline of the back and then split into parallel stripes that run down the hindfeet. Little is known of the behavior of the black-shouldered opossum. It is nocturnal (active mainly at night) and arboreal (tree-living); it is known to feed on fruits and rodents. The opossum inhabits humid forests. The IUCN classifies it as least concern.
Animals of the same family as a Black-shouldered opossum
We found other animals of the Didelphidae family:
- Bare-tailed woolly opossum with a size of 22.4 cm (0′ 9″)
- Common fat-tailed mouse opossum with a size of 9.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- Chestnut-striped opossum with a size of 13.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Tate’s woolly mouse opossum with a size of 16.8 cm (0′ 7″)
- Anderson’s four-eyed opossum with an average maximal age of 0.75 years
- Gray short-tailed opossum with a size of 14.8 cm (0′ 6″)
- Patagonian opossum with a size of 13.6 cm (0′ 6″)
- Northern gracile opossum with a size of 9.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Emilia’s short-tailed opossum with a size of 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Dorothy’s slender opossum with a size of 15.2 cm (0′ 6″)
Animals with the same size as a Black-shouldered opossum
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Black-shouldered opossum:
- Grey-bellied squirrel with a size of 21.1 cm (0′ 9″)
- Common echymipera with a size of 27 cm (0′ 11″)
- Yucatan squirrel with a size of 23.6 cm (0′ 10″)
- Buffy-headed marmoset with a size of 24 cm (0′ 10″)
- Bornean mountain ground squirrel with a size of 20.3 cm (0′ 8″)
- Mindoro black rat with a size of 19 cm (0′ 8″)
- Palawan flying squirrel with a size of 22 cm (0′ 9″)
- Geelvink Bay flying fox with a size of 19.7 cm (0′ 8″)
- Calabar angwantibo with a size of 24 cm (0′ 10″)
- Bulmer’s fruit bat with a size of 24.5 cm (0′ 10″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Black-shouldered opossum
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (2) as a Black-shouldered opossum:
- Brazilian guinea pig
- Serval
- Mexican harvest mouse
- Richmond’s squirrel
- Schlieffen’s bat
- White-tailed mongoose
- African wading rat
- Cape hare
- Savi’s pipistrelle
- Black-tailed mouse
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Black-shouldered opossum
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Black-shouldered opossum:
- Plains pocket gopher with an average maximal age of 7.17 years
- Chacoan peccary with an average maximal age of 9 years
- Barbary ground squirrel with an average maximal age of 9 years
- Bushveld elephant shrew with an average maximal age of 8.75 years
- Rufous rat-kangaroo with an average maximal age of 8 years
- Spectral bat with an average maximal age of 6.5 years
- Eastern pygmy possum with an average maximal age of 8 years
- Common ringtail possum with an average maximal age of 8 years
- Tropical pocket gopher with an average maximal age of 7 years
- Woylie with an average maximal age of 6.5 years
Animals with the same weight as a Black-shouldered opossum
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Caluromysiops irrupta:
- Stoat bringing 284 grams to the scale
- Bennett’s chinchilla rat bringing 251 grams to the scale
- Brandt’s hedgehog bringing 213 grams to the scale
- Richmond’s squirrel bringing 237 grams to the scale
- Euphrates jerboa bringing 232 grams to the scale
- Orange-bellied Himalayan squirrel bringing 227 grams to the scale
- Sucre spiny rat bringing 284 grams to the scale
- Chiapan climbing rat bringing 280 grams to the scale
- Hairy Atlantic spiny rat bringing 285 grams to the scale
- Emily’s tuco-tuco bringing 285 grams to the scale