It is hard to guess what a African giant shrew weights. But we have the answer:
An adult African giant shrew (Crocidura olivieri) on average weights 33 grams (0.07 lbs).
The African giant shrew is from the family Soricidae (genus: Crocidura). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 10.8 cm (0′ 5″).
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The African giant shrew (Crocidura olivieri) is a species of white-toothed shrew. It also is known as, Mann’s musk shrew, Euchareena’s musk shrew, or Olivier’s shrew. It is native to Africa, where it has a widespread distribution and occurs in many types of habitat. 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, arable land, rural gardens, urban areas, and heavily degraded former forest. In the Nile Valley it is found near human habitation, where it is considered to be a pest. It is a common species and is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being of “least concern”.
Animals of the same family as a African giant shrew
We found other animals of the Soricidae family:
- Chestnut-bellied shrew with a weight of 7 grams
- Zacatecas shrew with a weight of 7 grams
- Transcaucasian water shrew with a size of 8.6 cm (0′ 4″)
- Aberdare mole shrew with a weight of 23 grams
- Sclater’s shrew with a weight of 7 grams
- Iberian shrew with a weight of 6 grams
- Himalayan shrew with a weight of 14 grams
- Asiatic short-tailed shrew with a weight of 12 grams
- Long-tailed musk shrew with a weight of 5 grams
- Ussuri shrew with a weight of 15 grams
Animals with the same weight as a African giant shrew
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Crocidura olivieri:
- Olrog’s chaco mouse bringing 32 grams to the scale
- Brazilian shrew mouse bringing 36 grams to the scale
- Pleasant bolo mouse bringing 27 grams to the scale
- Dune hairy-footed gerbil bringing 29 grams to the scale
- Selangor pygmy flying squirrel bringing 30 grams to the scale
- Deroo’s mouse bringing 32 grams to the scale
- Greater Asiatic yellow bat bringing 36 grams to the scale
- Northwestern deer mouse bringing 28 grams to the scale
- Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur bringing 33 grams to the scale
- Lesser short-nosed fruit bat bringing 33 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a African giant shrew
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as African giant shrew:
- Northern short-tailed shrew with a size of 12.1 cm (0′ 5″)
- Dune hairy-footed gerbil with a size of 9.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Moss-forest rat with a size of 12.1 cm (0′ 5″)
- Djoongari with a size of 10.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Soft-furred Oldfield mouse with a size of 11.2 cm (0′ 5″)
- Neblina slender opossum with a size of 12.3 cm (0′ 5″)
- Nelson’s kangaroo rat with a size of 12.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Snow-footed Oldfield mouse with a size of 12.1 cm (0′ 5″)
- Julia Creek dunnart with a size of 9.5 cm (0′ 4″)
- Mongolian gerbil with a size of 11.2 cm (0′ 5″)