It is hard to guess what a Highveld gerbil weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Highveld gerbil (Tatera brantsii) on average weights 89 grams (0.2 lbs).
The Highveld gerbil is from the family Muridae (genus: Tatera). It is usually born with about 5 grams (0.01 lbs). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 11.7 cm (0′ 5″). On average, Highveld gerbils can have babies 4 times per year with a litter size of 2.
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 Highveld gerbil (Gerbilliscus brantsii) is a species of gerbil found in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, temperate shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, temperate grassland, and temperate desert. This is a common species with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as being of “least concern”.
Animals of the same family as a Highveld gerbil
We found other animals of the Muridae family:
- Tullberg’s soft-furred mouse with a weight of 37 grams
- Lesser stick-nest rat with a weight of 150 grams
- Mount Kahuzi climbing mouse with 3 babies per litter
- Japen rat with a weight of 380 grams
- JunÃn grass mouse with a weight of 39 grams
- Long-nosed paramelomys with a size of 17 cm (0′ 7″)
- Isarog striped shrew-rat with a weight of 140 grams
- Yellow steppe lemming with a weight of 26 grams
- Cursor grass mouse with a weight of 39 grams
- Shining thicket rat with a weight of 50 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Highveld gerbil
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Tatera brantsii:
- Highland streaked tenrec bringing 102 grams to the scale
- Oecomys flavicans bringing 73 grams to the scale
- Buller’s chipmunk bringing 100 grams to the scale
- Northern red-sided opossum bringing 79 grams to the scale
- Peruvian Oldfield mouse bringing 77 grams to the scale
- Robert’s hocicudo bringing 83 grams to the scale
- Patagonian chinchilla mouse bringing 75 grams to the scale
- Chelemys macronyx bringing 72 grams to the scale
- Moncton’s mosaic-tailed rat bringing 80 grams to the scale
- Lesser naked-backed fruit bat bringing 85 grams to the scale
Animals with the same litter size as a Highveld gerbil
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (2) as a Highveld gerbil: