It is hard to guess what a Derby’s woolly opossum weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Derby’s woolly opossum (Caluromys derbianus) on average weights 328 grams (0.72 lbs).
The Derby’s woolly opossum is from the family Didelphidae (genus: Caluromys). They can live for up to 5 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 23.1 cm (0′ 10″). Usually, Derby’s woolly opossums have 3 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.
Derby’s woolly opossum (Caluromys derbianus), or the Central American woolly opossum, is an opossum found in deciduous and moist evergreen forests of Central America, from southern Mexico to western Ecuador and Colombia. It was first described by English naturalist George Robert Waterhouse, and named in honor of Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. Derby’s woolly opossum is the largest in its genus, with a total length of 60 to 70 centimetres (24 to 28 in) and weight between 200 and 400 grams (7.1 and 14.1 oz). The coat is brown and the underside white-buff to golden-brown. The opossum is nocturnal (active mainly at night), arboreal (tree-living) and solitary. Diet consists of fruits, nectar, small invertebrates and vertebrates. The time when breeding takes place varies geographically. The litter size ranges from one to six. The IUCN classifies this opossum as least concern.
Animals of the same family as a Derby’s woolly opossum
We found other animals of the Didelphidae family:
- Brazilian gracile opossum with a weight of 29 grams
- Woolly mouse opossum with a weight of 107 grams
- Aceramarca gracile opossum with a weight of 20 grams
- Dusky slender opossum with a weight of 46 grams
- McIlhenny’s four-eyed opossum with an average maximal age of 2.25 years
- Ihering’s three-striped opossum with a weight of 112 grams
- Rufous mouse opossum with a weight of 14 grams
- Common fat-tailed mouse opossum with a weight of 28 grams
- Brazilian slender opossum with a weight of 38 grams
- Bare-tailed woolly opossum with a weight of 246 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Derby’s woolly opossum
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Caluromys derbianus:
- Northern needle-clawed bushbaby bringing 278 grams to the scale
- Emilia’s marmoset bringing 309 grams to the scale
- Sulawesi giant rat bringing 325 grams to the scale
- Mutable sun squirrel bringing 390 grams to the scale
- Temotu flying fox bringing 274 grams to the scale
- Buffy-headed marmoset bringing 374 grams to the scale
- O’Connell’s spiny rat bringing 284 grams to the scale
- African striped weasel bringing 308 grams to the scale
- Common yellow-toothed cavy bringing 387 grams to the scale
- Goeldi’s spiny rat bringing 284 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Derby’s woolly opossum
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Derby’s woolly opossum:
- Chinese red pika with a size of 24.5 cm (0′ 10″)
- Mountain treeshrew with a size of 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Grey-headed flying fox with a size of 27.2 cm (0′ 11″)
- Ihering’s Atlantic spiny rat with a size of 19.7 cm (0′ 8″)
- Buffy-headed marmoset with a size of 24 cm (0′ 10″)
- Eastern woolly lemur with a size of 27.5 cm (0′ 11″)
- Ashy-headed flying fox with a size of 21.6 cm (0′ 9″)
- Brooke’s squirrel with a size of 18.6 cm (0′ 8″)
- Michoacan pocket gopher with a size of 22.5 cm (0′ 9″)
- Mindoro black rat with a size of 19 cm (0′ 8″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Derby’s woolly opossum
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (3) as a Derby’s woolly opossum:
- Taiwanese brown-toothed shrew
- Small Japanese mole
- Yarkand hare
- Sable
- Savanna gerbil
- Dusky caenolestid
- Fat sand rat
- European pine marten
- Lesser mole-rat
- Prairie vole
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Derby’s woolly opossum
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Derby’s woolly opossum:
- Southern grasshopper mouse with an average maximal age of 4.58 years
- California ground squirrel with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Prevost’s squirrel with an average maximal age of 5.67 years
- Mountain pocket gopher with an average maximal age of 5 years
- European hamster with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Val’s gundi with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Sandhill dunnart with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Lesser mole-rat with an average maximal age of 4.5 years
- Stripe-faced dunnart with an average maximal age of 4.83 years
- Yellow-pine chipmunk with an average maximal age of 5.17 years