It is hard to guess what a Eurasian pygmy shrew weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Eurasian pygmy shrew (Sorex minutus) on average weights 4 grams (0.01 lbs).
The Eurasian pygmy shrew is from the family Soricidae (genus: Sorex). They can live for up to 2 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 5.7 cm (0′ 3″). On average, Eurasian pygmy shrews can have babies 1 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 Eurasian pygmy shrew (Sorex minutus), often known simply as the pygmy shrew, is a widespread shrew of northern Eurasia. It is the only shrew native to Ireland.Active throughout the day and night, the Eurasian pygmy shrew lives in undergrowth and leaf litter and lives off small insects and invertebrates. It has an average weight of 4 grams and has one of the highest metabolic rates of any animal, meaning it must eat at regular intervals — every two hours or so.The breeding season lasts from April through to August. Females usually produce between two and eight young per litter and care for the young in an underground nest. Since the gestation period is just over three weeks, they can have up to five litters in one year, though the life span of a pygmy shrew is a little over 15 months.In April 2008, the greater white-toothed shrew was discovered in Ireland. While the introduction of the species will possibly sustain threatened birds of prey, such as the barn owl, the nonnative mammal could threaten some of the smaller native species, such as the Eurasian pygmy shrew.
Animals of the same family as a Eurasian pygmy shrew
We found other animals of the Soricidae family:
- Malayan water shrew with a weight of 55 grams
- Crowned shrew with a weight of 9 grams
- Peters’s musk shrew with a weight of 6 grams
- Azumi shrew with a size of 6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Fraser’s musk shrew with a weight of 17 grams
- Kongana shrew with a weight of 5 grams
- Himalayan shrew with a weight of 14 grams
- Eisentraut’s shrew with 1 babies per litter
- Moon forest shrew with a weight of 18 grams
- Gansu shrew with a size of 8 cm (0′ 4″)
Animals with the same weight as a Eurasian pygmy shrew
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Sorex minutus:
- Rusty pipistrelle bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Spix’s disk-winged bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Yellow-lipped bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Temminck’s trident bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Crawford’s gray shrew bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Beccari’s sheath-tailed bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Remy’s pygmy shrew bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Pygmy long-eared bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Peters’s trumpet-eared bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Java pipistrelle bringing 4 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Eurasian pygmy shrew
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Eurasian pygmy shrew:
- Cuban flower bat with a size of 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- Lesser mouse-tailed bat with a size of 5.9 cm (0′ 3″)
- Tailed tailless bat with a size of 5.8 cm (0′ 3″)
- Mexican long-tongued bat with a size of 6.6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Vagrant shrew with a size of 6.4 cm (0′ 3″)
- Fulvous harvest mouse with a size of 6.6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Pygmy shrew tenrec with a size of 5.6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Balochistan gerbil with a size of 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- Lesser ranee mouse with a size of 6.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Bicolored musk shrew with a size of 6 cm (0′ 3″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Eurasian pygmy shrew
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (6) as a Eurasian pygmy shrew:
- Mindoro black rat
- Gray leaf-eared mouse
- Crest-tailed mulgara
- Spotted ground squirrel
- Brush-tailed phascogale
- Siberian weasel
- Chinese striped hamster
- Arctic ground squirrel
- Afghan pika
- Townsend’s pocket gopher
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Eurasian pygmy shrew
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Eurasian pygmy shrew:
- Fawn antechinus with an average maximal age of 2.25 years
- Honey possum with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Eastern harvest mouse with an average maximal age of 2.17 years
- Wongai ningaui with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Mongolian gerbil with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Silky anteater with an average maximal age of 2.25 years
- Dusky antechinus with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Bennett’s chinchilla rat with an average maximal age of 2.25 years
- Mediterranean water shrew with an average maximal age of 2 years
- White-eared opossum with an average maximal age of 1.67 years