It is hard to guess what a Big-headed African mole-rat weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Big-headed African mole-rat (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus) on average weights 622 grams (1.37 lbs).
The Big-headed African mole-rat is from the family Muridae (genus: Tachyoryctes). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 20.9 cm (0′ 9″). Usually, Big-headed African mole-rats have 1 babies per litter.
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 big-headed African mole rat, (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus), also known as the giant root-rat, Ethiopian African mole rat, or giant mole rat, is a rodent species in the family Spalacidae.It is endemic to Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, where it can reach densities of up to 2,600 individuals per square kilometre. It is threatened by habitat loss. Where the two species overlap, it is the main prey of the endangered Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis).Big-headed African mole rats are highly distinctive in their large size, especially that of their heads. They are a mottled golden-brown in color, and are soft-furred.While the other mole rats not only live but also feed underground, this species mostly forages above ground, by digging a new tunnel to a patch of herbage. It forages for about 20 minutes, until it has exhausted the supply of herbs about its tunnel, after which it blocks the tunnel it has built from the inside. It mostly eats grasses and herbs, with some individuals feeding mostly on roots. It retains its specialisations for digging tunnels because of the constant threat of predators, especially the Ethiopian wolf, which is specialised to a diet of mole rats. Ethiopian wolves catch mole rats by ambushing them after they have constructed a new foraging tunnel, chasing them into their tunnel, and then vigilantly waiting for them to resurface. These mole rats have evolved defenses other than flight, though, being very cautious and having incisors large enough to severely injure potential predators.
Animals of the same family as a Big-headed African mole-rat
We found other animals of the Muridae family:
- Southern multimammate mouse with a weight of 53 grams
- Emperor rat bringing 1 kilos (2.2 lbs) to the scale
- Bush vlei rat with a weight of 103 grams
- Red tree vole with a weight of 22 grams
- Andean big-eared mouse with a weight of 38 grams
- Afghan vole with 2 babies per litter
- Gray-tailed vole with a weight of 29 grams
- Pseudoryzomys with a weight of 45 grams
- Littledale’s whistling rat with a weight of 126 grams
- Strong-tailed Oldfield mouse with a weight of 77 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Big-headed African mole-rat
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Tachyoryctes macrocephalus:
- White-faced spiny tree-rat bringing 610 grams to the scale
- Rakali bringing 626 grams to the scale
- Giant naked-tailed rat bringing 745 grams to the scale
- Pemba flying fox bringing 541 grams to the scale
- Red-handed tamarin bringing 541 grams to the scale
- Yellow mongoose bringing 694 grams to the scale
- Narrow-striped mongoose bringing 664 grams to the scale
- Marbled polecat bringing 594 grams to the scale
- Painted ringtail possum bringing 642 grams to the scale
- Spermophilus relictus bringing 600 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Big-headed African mole-rat
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Big-headed African mole-rat:
- Townsend’s ground squirrel with a size of 17.3 cm (0′ 7″)
- Javanese flying squirrel with a size of 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- European ground squirrel with a size of 19.8 cm (0′ 8″)
- Guadalcanal rat with a size of 21.6 cm (0′ 9″)
- Red-tailed squirrel with a size of 22.2 cm (0′ 9″)
- Barbary ground squirrel with a size of 18.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- Baja California rock squirrel with a size of 24.5 cm (0′ 10″)
- White-footed tamarin with a size of 24 cm (0′ 10″)
- Greater hedgehog tenrec with a size of 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Ili pika with a size of 20.3 cm (0′ 8″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Big-headed African mole-rat
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Big-headed African mole-rat: