It is hard to guess what a American pygmy shrew weights. But we have the answer:
An adult American pygmy shrew (Sorex hoyi) on average weights 3 grams (0.01 lbs).
The American pygmy shrew is from the family Soricidae (genus: Sorex). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 5.3 cm (0′ 3″). On average, American pygmy shrews can have babies 1 times per year with a litter size of 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 American pygmy shrew (Sorex hoyi) is a small shrew found in Northern Alaska, Canada, and the northern United States, south through the Appalachian Mountains. It was first discovered in 1831 by naturalist William Cane in Georgian Bay, Parry Sound.This animal is found in northern coniferous and deciduous forests of North America. It is believed to be the second-smallest mammal in the world, but has an extremely large appetite for its size. Due to its fast metabolism, it needs to eat constantly. It digs through moist soils and decaying leaf litter for food.
Animals of the same family as a American pygmy shrew
We found other animals of the Soricidae family:
- Goldman’s broad-clawed shrew with a weight of 6 grams
- Buettikofer’s shrew with 2 babies per litter
- Long-clawed shrew with a weight of 14 grams
- Southeast Asian shrew with a weight of 12 grams
- East African highland shrew with 3 babies per litter
- Zacatecas shrew with a weight of 7 grams
- Chinese water shrew with a size of 10.2 cm (0′ 5″)
- Crawford’s gray shrew with a weight of 4 grams
- Mount Lyell shrew with a weight of 5 grams
- Negros shrew with a weight of 11 grams
Animals with the same weight as a American pygmy shrew
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Sorex hoyi:
- Canyon bat bringing 3 grams to the scale
- Preble’s shrew bringing 3 grams to the scale
- Bahaman funnel-eared bat bringing 3 grams to the scale
- Philippine pygmy roundleaf bat bringing 3 grams to the scale
- Thomas’s sac-winged bat bringing 3 grams to the scale
- Whiskered bat bringing 3 grams to the scale
- Heller’s pipistrelle bringing 3 grams to the scale
- Bahaman funnel-eared bat bringing 3 grams to the scale
- Whitehead’s woolly bat bringing 3 grams to the scale
- Inyo shrew bringing 3 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a American pygmy shrew
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as American pygmy shrew:
- Balochistan gerbil with a size of 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- Shinto shrew with a size of 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- Pygmy fruit-eating bat with a size of 5.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Pygmy shrew tenrec with a size of 5.6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Saharan shrew with a size of 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- Seba’s short-tailed bat with a size of 6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Merriam’s shrew with a size of 6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Daubenton’s bat with a size of 4.4 cm (0′ 2″)
- Silky pocket mouse with a size of 5.9 cm (0′ 3″)
- Greater mouse-tailed bat with a size of 6.1 cm (0′ 3″)
Animals with the same litter size as a American pygmy shrew
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (5) as a American pygmy shrew: