It is hard to guess what a Golden spiny mouse weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Golden spiny mouse (Acomys russatus) on average weights 42 grams (0.09 lbs).
The Golden spiny mouse is from the family Muridae (genus: Acomys). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 11.1 cm (0′ 5″). Usually, Golden spiny mouses have 2 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 golden spiny mouse (Acomys russatus) gets its name from the reddish-orange spiny fur that covers its body from head to tail. This coarse, inflexible fur is thought to protect it from predation. Aside from the golden fur that covers its head and upper parts, its flanks are yellow and its underside is pale. It has gray legs with pale feet and black soles. It is also described as having a small, but distinct white spot under each eye. It is often found in the wild missing a part or all of its tail because it is able to shed this as a defense mechanism. However, it is not known how this is done, how often it can occur, or under what conditions. It lives an average of three years in the wild. It is omnivorous and feeds on seeds, desert plants, snails, and insects. Living in desert regions, it is a xeric animal that obtains water from the plants that it eats and produces very concentrated urine in order to conserve water. A. russatus is naturally nocturnal, but adapts to being diurnal when it shares a habitat with A. cahirinus.
Animals of the same family as a Golden spiny mouse
We found other animals of the Muridae family:
- Euryoryzomys russatus with a weight of 60 grams
- Akodon aerosus with a weight of 60 grams
- Ciscaucasian hamster with 9 babies per litter
- Cutch rat with 5 babies per litter
- Transcaucasian mole vole with 4 babies per litter
- Hildegarde’s broad-headed mouse with a weight of 55 grams
- Neacomys guianae with a weight of 15 grams
- Eastern chestnut mouse with a weight of 79 grams
- Turkestan rat with 4 babies per litter
- Mira climbing rat with a weight of 184 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Golden spiny mouse
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Acomys russatus:
- Cursor grass mouse bringing 39 grams to the scale
- Tawny deer mouse bringing 40 grams to the scale
- Capricorn leaf-eared mouse bringing 50 grams to the scale
- Sclater’s golden mole bringing 39 grams to the scale
- Lesser tree mouse bringing 45 grams to the scale
- Great roundleaf bat bringing 50 grams to the scale
- Lesser musky fruit bat bringing 47 grams to the scale
- Cloud forest grass mouse bringing 39 grams to the scale
- Dryad shrew tenrec bringing 40 grams to the scale
- Paramo hocicudo bringing 41 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Golden spiny mouse
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Golden spiny mouse:
- Northern gracile opossum with a size of 9.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Big-eared hopping mouse with a size of 11.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Narrow-faced kangaroo rat with a size of 12.6 cm (0′ 5″)
- Northern Luzon shrew-rat with a size of 10.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Northern collared lemming with a size of 11.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- False water rat with a size of 11.3 cm (0′ 5″)
- Shrew gymnure with a size of 11.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Jentink’s flying squirrel with a size of 13.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Marsh rice rat with a size of 13.3 cm (0′ 6″)
- Long-nosed Luzon forest mouse with a size of 10.9 cm (0′ 5″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Golden spiny mouse
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (2) as a Golden spiny mouse: