It is hard to guess what a Honey possum weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus) on average weights 9 grams (0.02 lbs).
The Honey possum is from the family Tarsipedidae (genus: Tarsipes). They can live for up to 2 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 7.7 cm (0′ 4″). On average, Honey possums can have babies 3 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 honey possum or noolbenger refers to Tarsipes rostratus, a tiny species of marsupial that feeds on the nectar and pollen of a diverse range of flowering plants. Found in southwest Australia, it is an important pollinator for such plants as Banksia attenuata, Banksia coccinea and Adenanthos cuneatus.
Animals with the same weight as a Honey possum
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Tarsipes rostratus:
- Northern bat bringing 10 grams to the scale
- Fog shrew bringing 8 grams to the scale
- Commissaris’s long-tongued bat bringing 9 grams to the scale
- Bourret’s horseshoe bat bringing 8 grams to the scale
- Townsend’s big-eared bat bringing 10 grams to the scale
- Chestnut climbing mouse bringing 8 grams to the scale
- Greater long-tailed shrew tenrec bringing 10 grams to the scale
- San Joaquin pocket mouse bringing 10 grams to the scale
- Tonatia brasiliense bringing 9 grams to the scale
- Blackish small-eared shrew bringing 8 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Honey possum
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Honey possum:
- Triaenops rufus with a size of 8.7 cm (0′ 4″)
- Hose’s pygmy flying squirrel with a size of 7.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- Long-tailed brown-toothed shrew with a size of 6.6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Big Mexican small-eared shrew with a size of 8.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- Gray spiny mouse with a size of 8.5 cm (0′ 4″)
- Lesser bulldog bat with a size of 6.6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Hazel dormouse with a size of 7.6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Antillean fruit-eating bat with a size of 8.1 cm (0′ 4″)
- Chinese shrew mole with a size of 7.2 cm (0′ 3″)
- Little yellow-shouldered bat with a size of 6.5 cm (0′ 3″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Honey possum
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (2) as a Honey possum:
- Glacier rat
- Smith’s bush squirrel
- Slender rat
- Turbo shrew
- Buettikofer’s shrew
- American shrew mole
- Cape fox
- Blanford’s fox
- Red panda
- Grey-bellied squirrel
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Honey possum
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Honey possum:
- Marsh rice rat with an average maximal age of 2.33 years
- Ningbing false antechinus with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Tundra vole with an average maximal age of 1.75 years
- North American least shrew with an average maximal age of 1.75 years
- Slender-tailed dunnart with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Southern red-backed vole with an average maximal age of 1.67 years
- Merriam’s kangaroo rat with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Fawn antechinus with an average maximal age of 2.25 years
- Malabar spiny dormouse with an average maximal age of 1.67 years
- Cinereus shrew with an average maximal age of 1.92 years