It is hard to guess what a Arctic shrew weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Arctic shrew (Sorex arcticus) on average weights 8 grams (0.02 lbs).
The Arctic shrew is from the family Soricidae (genus: Sorex). They can live for up to 1.5 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 7.5 cm (0′ 3″). On average, Arctic shrews can have babies 1 times per year with a litter size of 6.
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 Arctic shrew (Sorex arcticus), also known as the blackback shrew or saddlebacked shrew, is a medium-sized shrew found in Canada and the northern United States. Separate species status has been proposed for the maritime shrew (Sorex maritimensis) which is found in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and had been considered to be a subspecies of the Arctic shrew. The tundra shrew (Sorex tundrensis) was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the Arctic shrew.
Animals of the same family as a Arctic shrew
We found other animals of the Soricidae family:
- North American least shrew with a weight of 4 grams
- Dwarf shrew with a weight of 2 grams
- Lesser gray-brown musk shrew with a weight of 7 grams
- Cinereus shrew with a weight of 4 grams
- Grant’s forest shrew with 1 babies per litter
- Bornean water shrew with a size of 10 cm (0′ 4″)
- Savanna swamp shrew with a weight of 19 grams
- Zarudny’s rock shrew with 5 babies per litter
- Climbing shrew with a weight of 5 grams
- Himalayan water shrew with a weight of 33 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Arctic shrew
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Sorex arcticus:
- Greater dog-like bat bringing 9 grams to the scale
- Canarian shrew bringing 7 grams to the scale
- Mexican long-tailed shrew bringing 7 grams to the scale
- Evening bat bringing 9 grams to the scale
- Bobrinski’s serotine bringing 7 grams to the scale
- Long-legged bat bringing 8 grams to the scale
- Mexican big-eared bat bringing 7 grams to the scale
- Long-fingered bat bringing 8 grams to the scale
- Reddish-gray musk shrew bringing 8 grams to the scale
- Madagascar sucker-footed bat bringing 9 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Arctic shrew
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Arctic shrew:
- Japanese dormouse with a size of 7.2 cm (0′ 3″)
- Sinaloan pocket mouse with a size of 7.1 cm (0′ 3″)
- Selangor pygmy flying squirrel with a size of 8.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- One-toothed shrew mouse with a size of 9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Greater forest shrew with a size of 8.3 cm (0′ 4″)
- Transcaucasian water shrew with a size of 8.6 cm (0′ 4″)
- Steppe mouse with a size of 7.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Long-eared flying mouse with a size of 8.7 cm (0′ 4″)
- Yellow-winged bat with a size of 6.7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Western harvest mouse with a size of 6.9 cm (0′ 3″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Arctic shrew
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (6) as a Arctic shrew:
- Little red kaluta
- Philippine warty pig
- Siberian brown lemming
- Maximowicz’s vole
- White-eared opossum
- California ground squirrel
- Günther’s vole
- Dwarf shrew
- South African pouched mouse
- Big-eared opossum
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Arctic shrew
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Arctic shrew:
- American water shrew with an average maximal age of 1.5 years
- Atlantic bamboo rat with an average maximal age of 1.58 years
- Texas mouse with an average maximal age of 1.5 years
- Panamanian spiny pocket mouse with an average maximal age of 1.75 years
- Smoky shrew with an average maximal age of 1.25 years
- Southern red-backed vole with an average maximal age of 1.67 years
- Townsend’s mole with an average maximal age of 1.5 years
- Tundra vole with an average maximal age of 1.75 years
- Brush mouse with an average maximal age of 1.5 years
- Southern red-backed vole with an average maximal age of 1.67 years