It is hard to guess what a Japanese water shrew weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Japanese water shrew (Chimarrogale platycephala) on average weights 35 grams (0.08 lbs).
The Japanese water shrew is from the family Soricidae (genus: Chimarrogale). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 11.6 cm (0′ 5″).
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 water shrew (Chimarrogale platycephalus), also called the flat-headed water shrew, is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Japan.
Animals of the same family as a Japanese water shrew
We found other animals of the Soricidae family:
- Transcaucasian water shrew with a size of 8.6 cm (0′ 4″)
- Long-tailed shrew with a weight of 3 grams
- Greater forest shrew with a weight of 16 grams
- Greater dwarf shrew with a weight of 8 grams
- Himalayan water shrew with a weight of 33 grams
- Slender shrew with a weight of 4 grams
- Radde’s shrew with 2 babies per litter
- Ultimate shrew with a weight of 16 grams
- Big Mexican small-eared shrew with a weight of 7 grams
- Buettikofer’s shrew with 2 babies per litter
Animals with the same weight as a Japanese water shrew
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Chimarrogale platycephala:
- Hairy-legged vampire bat bringing 28 grams to the scale
- Greater Asiatic yellow bat bringing 36 grams to the scale
- Oligoryzomys nigripes bringing 34 grams to the scale
- Ernst Mayr’s water rat bringing 42 grams to the scale
- Fresno kangaroo rat bringing 41 grams to the scale
- Tullberg’s soft-furred mouse bringing 37 grams to the scale
- Djoongari bringing 39 grams to the scale
- Sagebrush vole bringing 28 grams to the scale
- Large slit-faced bat bringing 29 grams to the scale
- Caatinga vesper mouse bringing 39 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Japanese water shrew
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Japanese water shrew:
- Glacier rat with a size of 12.8 cm (0′ 6″)
- Olrog’s chaco mouse with a size of 9.6 cm (0′ 4″)
- Shrew gymnure with a size of 11.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Dickey’s deer mouse with a size of 10 cm (0′ 4″)
- Yellow-sided opossum with a size of 9.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Masked flying fox with a size of 13.6 cm (0′ 6″)
- Mount Apo forest mouse with a size of 10.9 cm (0′ 5″)
- Commerson’s roundleaf bat with a size of 12.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Black-tailed mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 13.7 cm (0′ 6″)
- Grassland mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 10.8 cm (0′ 5″)