It is hard to guess what a Cape ground squirrel weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Cape ground squirrel (Xerus inauris) on average weights 572 grams (1.26 lbs).
The Cape ground squirrel is from the family Sciuridae (genus: Xerus). It is usually born with about 20 grams (0.04 lbs). They can live for up to 13 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 24.7 cm (0′ 10″). On average, Cape ground squirrels can have babies 1 times per year with a litter size of 2.
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 Cape ground squirrel or South African ground squirrel (Xerus inauris) is found in most of the drier parts of southern Africa from South Africa, through to Botswana, and into Namibia, including Etosha National Park.The name Cape ground squirrel is somewhat misleading as it actually has a much wider area of habitation. This common name may have been arrived at to distinguish it from a tree squirrel (the eastern grey squirrel) found around Cape Town, which was imported from Europe by Cecil John Rhodes.
Animals of the same family as a Cape ground squirrel
We found other animals of the Sciuridae family:
- Black flying squirrel bringing 1.19 kilos (2.62 lbs) to the scale
- Hose’s pygmy flying squirrel with a size of 7.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- Asia Minor ground squirrel with 5 babies per litter
- Jentink’s flying squirrel with a weight of 56 grams
- Andean squirrel with a weight of 803 grams
- Sierra Madre ground squirrel with a weight of 207 grams
- Cliff chipmunk with a weight of 63 grams
- Sculptor squirrel with a size of 12 cm (0′ 5″)
- Spotted giant flying squirrel bringing 1.04 kilos (2.29 lbs) to the scale
- Culion tree squirrel with a size of 21 cm (0′ 9″)
Animals with the same weight as a Cape ground squirrel
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Xerus inauris:
- Spermophilus relictus bringing 600 grams to the scale
- Slender mongoose bringing 530 grams to the scale
- Volcano rabbit bringing 465 grams to the scale
- Forest giant squirrel bringing 630 grams to the scale
- Guadalcanal monkey-faced bat bringing 489 grams to the scale
- Narrow-striped mongoose bringing 664 grams to the scale
- Red-handed tamarin bringing 541 grams to the scale
- Oaxacan pocket gopher bringing 499 grams to the scale
- Short-tailed chinchilla bringing 499 grams to the scale
- Big pocket gopher bringing 499 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Cape ground squirrel
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Cape ground squirrel:
- Ashy-headed flying fox with a size of 21.6 cm (0′ 9″)
- New Guinean quoll with a size of 26.9 cm (0′ 11″)
- Muskrat with a size of 27.7 cm (0′ 11″)
- Palawan flying squirrel with a size of 22 cm (0′ 9″)
- Florida naked-tailed rat with a size of 27 cm (0′ 11″)
- Camas pocket gopher with a size of 19.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- San José brush rabbit with a size of 29.4 cm (1′ 0″)
- Epixerus with a size of 28.8 cm (1′ 0″)
- Forest giant squirrel with a size of 29.1 cm (1′ 0″)
- Short-footed Luzon tree rat with a size of 20 cm (0′ 8″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Cape ground squirrel
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (2) as a Cape ground squirrel:
- Red-handed tamarin
- Slender rat
- Cameroon clawless otter
- Volcano rabbit
- Pronghorn
- Dark-footed mouse shrew
- Greater tree mouse
- Pygmy mouse lemur
- Moupin pika
- Fossa (animal)
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Cape ground squirrel
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Cape ground squirrel:
- Desert rat-kangaroo with an average maximal age of 13 years
- Malagasy civet with an average maximal age of 11 years
- Arctocephalus forsteri with an average maximal age of 15 years
- Grey long-eared bat with an average maximal age of 15 years
- Müeller’s gibbon with an average maximal age of 14.5 years
- Nine-banded armadillo with an average maximal age of 15 years
- Crab-eating mongoose with an average maximal age of 13.33 years
- Black-striped wallaby with an average maximal age of 15 years
- Masoala fork-marked lemur with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Lesser hedgehog tenrec with an average maximal age of 13 years