It is hard to guess what a Japanese shrew mole weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Japanese shrew mole (Urotrichus talpoides) on average weights 18 grams (0.04 lbs).
The Japanese shrew mole is from the family Talpidae (genus: Urotrichus). They can live for up to 3.5 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 9 cm (0′ 4″). On average, Japanese shrew moles can have babies 1 times per year with a litter size of 3.
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 Japanese shrew mole or himizu (ヒミズ) (Urotrichus talpoides) is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It is endemic to Japan and is found on Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Awaji Island, Shodo Island, Oki Islands, Tsushima Island, Goto Islands, Mishima Island (Yamaguchi Prefecture), and Awashima Island (Niigata Prefecture), but is absent from Hokkaido, which is north of Blakiston’s Line. It is one of three Urotrichini and it is the only species in the genus Urotrichus. It is common between sea level and approximately 2,000 m.Heinrich Bürger, assistant of Philipp Franz von Siebold, collected specimens of Urotrichus talpoides near Dejima between 1824 and 1826, found lying dead in the fields, which were ultimately described by Temminck after shipping them to the Netherlands.
Animals of the same family as a Japanese shrew mole
We found other animals of the Talpidae family:
- Hairy-tailed mole with a weight of 51 grams
- Pyrenean desman with a weight of 60 grams
- Kobe mole with a weight of 95 grams
- Small Japanese mole with a weight of 65 grams
- Russian desman with a weight of 420 grams
- Kloss’s mole with 4 babies per litter
- American shrew mole with a weight of 9 grams
- Coast mole with a weight of 61 grams
- Gansu mole with a size of 8.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Inquisitive shrew mole with a size of 7.5 cm (0′ 3″)
Animals with the same weight as a Japanese shrew mole
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Urotrichus talpoides:
- Woodland dormouse bringing 20 grams to the scale
- Blackish white-toothed shrew bringing 20 grams to the scale
- Grey-bellied dunnart bringing 17 grams to the scale
- Tickell’s bat bringing 16 grams to the scale
- Ural field mouse bringing 18 grams to the scale
- Luzon fruit bat bringing 16 grams to the scale
- Javan slit-faced bat bringing 17 grams to the scale
- Spotted bat bringing 16 grams to the scale
- Buffy flower bat bringing 16 grams to the scale
- Melissa’s yellow-eared bat bringing 16 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Japanese shrew mole
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Japanese shrew mole:
- Bishop’s slender opossum with a size of 10.3 cm (0′ 5″)
- Yellow golden mole with a size of 10 cm (0′ 4″)
- Hairy-legged vampire bat with a size of 7.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Gray spiny mouse with a size of 8.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- Narrow-skulled pocket mouse with a size of 8.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- Townsend’s mole with a size of 8.7 cm (0′ 4″)
- Himalayan striped squirrel with a size of 10.4 cm (0′ 5″)
- Desert mouse with a size of 8.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- Honey possum with a size of 7.7 cm (0′ 4″)
- Stolička’s mountain vole with a size of 10.8 cm (0′ 5″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Japanese shrew mole
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (3) as a Japanese shrew mole:
- Kashmir flying squirrel
- Western red-backed vole
- Kemp’s gerbil
- Pygmy hog
- Slender squirrel
- Cheetah
- Japanese mountain mole
- Kivu long-haired shrew
- Zacatecan deer mouse
- Rock vole
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Japanese shrew mole
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Japanese shrew mole:
- Japanese mole with an average maximal age of 3.5 years
- Cape mole-rat with an average maximal age of 3 years
- Woolley’s false antechinus with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Forest dormouse with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Arctic lemming with an average maximal age of 3.75 years
- Field vole with an average maximal age of 3.25 years
- Aders’s duiker with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Little red kaluta with an average maximal age of 3 years
- White-footed mouse with an average maximal age of 3.17 years
- Water opossum with an average maximal age of 3 years