How big does a Derby’s woolly opossum get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Derby’s woolly opossum (Caluromys derbianus) reaches an average size of 23.1 cm (0′ 10″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). Usually, they reach an age of 5 years. A full-grown exemplary reaches roughly 328 grams (0.72 lbs). A Derby’s woolly opossum has 3 babies at once. The Derby’s woolly opossum (genus: Caluromys) 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.
Derby’s woolly opossum (Caluromys derbianus), or the Central American woolly opossum, is an opossum found in deciduous and moist evergreen forests of Central America, from southern Mexico to western Ecuador and Colombia. It was first described by English naturalist George Robert Waterhouse, and named in honor of Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. Derby’s woolly opossum is the largest in its genus, with a total length of 60 to 70 centimetres (24 to 28 in) and weight between 200 and 400 grams (7.1 and 14.1 oz). The coat is brown and the underside white-buff to golden-brown. The opossum is nocturnal (active mainly at night), arboreal (tree-living) and solitary. Diet consists of fruits, nectar, small invertebrates and vertebrates. The time when breeding takes place varies geographically. The litter size ranges from one to six. The IUCN classifies this opossum as least concern.
Animals of the same family as a Derby’s woolly opossum
We found other animals of the Didelphidae family:
- White-eared opossum with a size of 36 cm (1′ 3″)
- Guajira mouse opossum with a size of 13.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Dusky slender opossum with a size of 13.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Bushy-tailed opossum with a size of 17.6 cm (0′ 7″)
- Red mouse opossum with a weight of 63 grams
- Pygmy short-tailed opossum with a size of 7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Bare-tailed woolly mouse opossum with a size of 20.4 cm (0′ 9″)
- Paraguayan fat-tailed mouse opossum with a size of 12.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Water opossum with a size of 29.7 cm (1′ 0″)
- Northern gracile opossum with a size of 9.9 cm (0′ 4″)
Animals with the same size as a Derby’s woolly opossum
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Derby’s woolly opossum:
- Poncelet’s giant rat with a size of 27 cm (0′ 11″)
- Sikkim rat with a size of 18.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- Lesser stick-nest rat with a size of 20.3 cm (0′ 8″)
- Northern Palawan tree squirrel with a size of 21 cm (0′ 9″)
- Large Luzon forest rat with a size of 24 cm (0′ 10″)
- Rock squirrel with a size of 27.3 cm (0′ 11″)
- Tome’s spiny rat with a size of 22.9 cm (0′ 10″)
- Numbat with a size of 23 cm (0′ 10″)
- Buffy-headed marmoset with a size of 24 cm (0′ 10″)
- European water vole with a size of 19.3 cm (0′ 8″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Derby’s woolly opossum
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (3) as a Derby’s woolly opossum:
- Pinyon mouse
- Nagtglas’s African dormouse
- Slender harvest mouse
- Smoky white-toothed shrew
- Kashmir flying squirrel
- Black-footed ferret
- Canyon mouse
- Dusky caenolestid
- Cheetah
- Abrothrix longipilis
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Derby’s woolly opossum
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Derby’s woolly opossum:
- Gansu pika with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Bridled nail-tail wallaby with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Great gerbil with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Gray short-tailed opossum with an average maximal age of 6 years
- Little free-tailed bat with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Yellow-faced pocket gopher with an average maximal age of 4.67 years
- Brush-tailed phascogale with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Lemur-like ringtail possum with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Otter civet with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Musky rat-kangaroo with an average maximal age of 6 years
Animals with the same weight as a Derby’s woolly opossum
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Caluromys derbianus:
- White-headed marmoset bringing 342 grams to the scale
- Minca spiny rat bringing 284 grams to the scale
- Black-tufted marmoset bringing 340 grams to the scale
- Desert hedgehog bringing 352 grams to the scale
- Little red flying fox bringing 379 grams to the scale
- Orange-brown Atlantic tree-rat bringing 312 grams to the scale
- Catamarca tuco-tuco bringing 316 grams to the scale
- Spiny Ceram rat bringing 306 grams to the scale
- Namaqua dune mole-rat bringing 389 grams to the scale
- Colombian spiny rat bringing 312 grams to the scale