It is hard to guess what a Cape serotine weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Cape serotine (Eptesicus capensis) on average weights 6 grams (0.01 lbs).
The Cape serotine is from the family Vespertilionidae (genus: Eptesicus). It is usually born with about 2 grams (0 lbs). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 8.2 cm (0′ 4″). Usually, Cape serotines 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 Cape serotine (Neoromicia capensis) is a species of vesper bat occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa. ‘Serotine’ is from Latin ‘serotinus’ meaning ‘of the evening’.It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Djibouti.
Animals of the same family as a Cape serotine
We found other animals of the Vespertilionidae family:
- Natal long-fingered bat with a weight of 10 grams
- Large forest bat with a weight of 6 grams
- Natterer’s bat with a weight of 7 grams
- Chinese pipistrelle with a weight of 5 grams
- Tickell’s bat with a weight of 16 grams
- Rüppell’s broad-nosed bat with a weight of 26 grams
- Banana pipistrelle with a weight of 3 grams
- Variegated butterfly bat with a weight of 11 grams
- Big brown bat with a weight of 17 grams
- Long-fingered bat with a weight of 8 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Cape serotine
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Eptesicus capensis:
- Merriam’s shrew bringing 5 grams to the scale
- Montane shrew bringing 6 grams to the scale
- Lesser dwarf shrew bringing 5 grams to the scale
- Ludia’s shrew bringing 5 grams to the scale
- Common pipistrelle bringing 5 grams to the scale
- Cadorna’s pipistrelle bringing 6 grams to the scale
- Pale shrew tenrec bringing 7 grams to the scale
- Swinny’s horseshoe bat bringing 7 grams to the scale
- Blanford’s bat bringing 6 grams to the scale
- Malayan horseshoe bat bringing 6 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Cape serotine
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Cape serotine:
- Ghost-faced bat with a size of 6.6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Greater broad-nosed bat with a size of 8.1 cm (0′ 4″)
- Tufted pygmy squirrel with a size of 8.3 cm (0′ 4″)
- Japanese shrew mole with a size of 9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Southern three-striped opossum with a size of 8.6 cm (0′ 4″)
- Winter white dwarf hamster with a size of 7.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Rudd’s mouse with a size of 9.3 cm (0′ 4″)
- Arctic shrew with a size of 7.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Long-tailed brown-toothed shrew with a size of 6.6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Santa Cruz mouse with a size of 9.8 cm (0′ 4″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Cape serotine
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Cape serotine: