It is hard to guess what a Common shrew weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Common shrew (Sorex araneus) on average weights 9 grams (0.02 lbs).
The Common shrew is from the family Soricidae (genus: Sorex). They can live for up to 2 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 7.3 cm (0′ 3″). On average, Common shrews can have babies 2 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 common shrew (Sorex araneus), also known as the Eurasian shrew, is the most common shrew, and one of the most common mammals, throughout Northern Europe, including Great Britain, but excluding Ireland. It is 55 to 82 millimetres (2.2 to 3.2 in) long and weighs 5 to 12 grams (0.2 to 0.4 oz), and has velvety dark brown fur with a pale underside. Juvenile shrews have lighter fur until their first moult. The common shrew has small eyes, a pointed, mobile snout and red-tipped teeth. It has a life span of approximately 14 months.Shrews are active day and night, taking short periods of rest between relatively long bursts of activity.
Animals of the same family as a Common shrew
We found other animals of the Soricidae family:
- Makwassie musk shrew with a weight of 6 grams
- San Cristobal shrew with a weight of 7 grams
- Madagascan pygmy shrew with a weight of 2 grams
- Lesser large-headed shrew with a weight of 12 grams
- Iberian shrew with a weight of 6 grams
- Radde’s shrew with 2 babies per litter
- Crawford’s gray shrew with a weight of 4 grams
- Dwarf shrew with a weight of 2 grams
- Himalayan shrew with a weight of 14 grams
- Elgon shrew with a weight of 6 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Common shrew
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Sorex araneus:
- Evening bat bringing 9 grams to the scale
- Rafinesque’s big-eared bat bringing 9 grams to the scale
- Long-legged myotis bringing 8 grams to the scale
- Lesser large-footed bat bringing 8 grams to the scale
- Pilliga mouse bringing 10 grams to the scale
- Luzon shrew bringing 10 grams to the scale
- Little free-tailed bat bringing 10 grams to the scale
- Tasmanian pygmy possum bringing 8 grams to the scale
- Eastern harvest mouse bringing 8 grams to the scale
- Large-eared pied bat bringing 8 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Common shrew
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Common shrew:
- New Guinean jumping mouse with a size of 8.1 cm (0′ 4″)
- Saharan shrew with a size of 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- Pallas’s pika with a size of 8.2 cm (0′ 4″)
- Desert long-eared bat with a size of 6.4 cm (0′ 3″)
- Temminck’s mouse with a size of 6.1 cm (0′ 3″)
- Somali pygmy gerbil with a size of 6.8 cm (0′ 3″)
- Allen’s big-eared bat with a size of 5.9 cm (0′ 3″)
- Egyptian free-tailed bat with a size of 7.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Common blossom bat with a size of 6.7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Azumi shrew with a size of 6 cm (0′ 3″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Common shrew
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (6) as a Common shrew:
- Mindoro black rat
- White-eared opossum
- Townsend’s pocket gopher
- Raccoon dog
- South African pouched mouse
- Spotted ground squirrel
- Flat-headed vole
- Crest-tailed mulgara
- Wyoming pocket gopher
- North American brown lemming
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Common shrew
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Common shrew:
- North American least shrew with an average maximal age of 1.75 years
- Norway lemming with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Long-tailed giant rat with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Hoary bat with an average maximal age of 2.08 years
- Swamp antechinus with an average maximal age of 2 years
- White-eared opossum with an average maximal age of 1.67 years
- Bennett’s chinchilla rat with an average maximal age of 2.25 years
- Dusky antechinus with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Feather-tailed possum with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Wongai ningaui with an average maximal age of 2 years