How big does a Brazilian slender opossum get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Brazilian slender opossum (Marmosops paulensis) reaches an average size of 12.5 cm (0′ 5″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). A full-grown exemplary reaches roughly 38 grams (0.08 lbs). The Brazilian slender opossum (genus: Marmosops) 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 Brazilian slender opossum (Marmosops paulensis) is an opossum species from South America. It is found in moist montane forest in the Atlantic Forest region of southeastern Brazil, including the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Paraná. Its breeding may be fully semelparous, which is unusual for a mammal.It is considered monotypic and analysis of mtDNA sequences has distinguished this species from other Marmosops. Similar to the gray slender opossum (M. Incanus), adults of this species have short fur while young have long, soft fur. Early research identified M. paulensis as a subspecies of M. incana. The name M paulensis came from a mistaken attribution of the species origin as São Paulo. Subsequent research has, however, distinguished M. paulensis based on various features like smaller upper canines, absence of palatine fenestrae and longer incisive foramina.
Animals of the same family as a Brazilian slender opossum
We found other animals of the Didelphidae family:
- Virginia opossum with 8 babies per litter
- Lutrine opossum with a size of 32.4 cm (1′ 1″)
- Tyler’s mouse opossum with a size of 11.9 cm (0′ 5″)
- Chestnut-striped opossum with a size of 13.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Northern red-sided opossum with a size of 13.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Woolly mouse opossum with a size of 16.8 cm (0′ 7″)
- Common fat-tailed mouse opossum with a size of 9.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- Long-nosed short-tailed opossum with a size of 13.9 cm (0′ 6″)
- One-striped opossum with a size of 13.7 cm (0′ 6″)
- Gray four-eyed opossum with a size of 26.5 cm (0′ 11″)
Animals with the same size as a Brazilian slender opossum
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Brazilian slender opossum:
- Hairy-tailed bolo mouse with a size of 14.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Moncton’s mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 14.7 cm (0′ 6″)
- Neotropical pygmy squirrel with a size of 11.1 cm (0′ 5″)
- Short-tailed gymnure with a size of 13.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Stuhlmann’s golden mole with a size of 12.9 cm (0′ 6″)
- Dusky caenolestid with a size of 11.3 cm (0′ 5″)
- Red-tailed phascogale with a size of 10.8 cm (0′ 5″)
- Big-eared hopping mouse with a size of 11.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Salim Ali’s fruit bat with a size of 10.6 cm (0′ 5″)
- Chinese water shrew with a size of 10.2 cm (0′ 5″)
Animals with the same weight as a Brazilian slender opossum
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Marmosops paulensis:
- Large-eared free-tailed bat bringing 34 grams to the scale
- Antillean fruit-eating bat bringing 45 grams to the scale
- Hairy fruit-eating bat bringing 40 grams to the scale
- Verreaux’s mouse bringing 41 grams to the scale
- Olrog’s chaco mouse bringing 32 grams to the scale
- Lesser spear-nosed bat bringing 41 grams to the scale
- Djoongari bringing 43 grams to the scale
- Indian roundleaf bat bringing 44 grams to the scale
- Jackson’s soft-furred mouse bringing 39 grams to the scale
- Red-cheeked dunnart bringing 35 grams to the scale