It is hard to guess what a Lesser mole-rat weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Lesser mole-rat (Spalax leucodon) on average weights 188 grams (0.41 lbs).
The Lesser mole-rat is from the family Spalacidae (genus: Spalax). It is usually born with about 4 grams (0.01 lbs). They can live for up to 4.5 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 5.9 cm (0′ 3″). On average, Lesser mole-rats 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 lesser mole-rat (Spalax leucodon) is a species of rodent in the family Spalacidae found in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Israel, Turkey, Iran and Ukraine. There have been suggestions that its taxonomic position should change in the light of new scientific information. Modern authors tend to separate this and some closely related mole rat species from other Spalax species by classifying them into a separate genus named Nannospalax. A cariological study showed that Nannospalax leucodon is a superspecies consisting of several cariologically distinct cryptic species. According to this definition there are four separate cariological forms in the Carpathian Basin, one of them endangered and another one vulnerable while insufficient data are available to evaluate the conservation status of the other two forms.
Animals of the same family as a Lesser mole-rat
We found other animals of the Spalacidae family:
- Middle East blind mole-rat with a weight of 164 grams
- Chinese zokor with a weight of 256 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Lesser mole-rat
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Spalax leucodon:
- Spectral tarsier bringing 166 grams to the scale
- Short-furred dasyure bringing 161 grams to the scale
- Brandt’s hedgehog bringing 213 grams to the scale
- Thirteen-lined ground squirrel bringing 175 grams to the scale
- Long-haired rat bringing 221 grams to the scale
- Banks flying fox bringing 210 grams to the scale
- Nicobar treeshrew bringing 170 grams to the scale
- Biak naked-backed fruit bat bringing 200 grams to the scale
- Mindanao hairy-tailed rat bringing 186 grams to the scale
- Javanese flying squirrel bringing 156 grams to the scale
Animals with the same litter size as a Lesser mole-rat
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (3) as a Lesser mole-rat:
- Chilean rock rat
- Emin’s gerbil
- Southeastern shrew
- Common punaré
- Cameroon soft-furred mouse
- Swinhoe’s striped squirrel
- Cheetah
- Slender squirrel
- Collared pika
- Eastern red bat
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Lesser mole-rat
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Lesser mole-rat:
- Long-legged myotis with an average maximal age of 4.25 years
- Forest dormouse with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Gansu pika with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Meadow jumping mouse with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Desert hedgehog with an average maximal age of 4.5 years
- Guyenne spiny rat with an average maximal age of 4.75 years
- Siberian flying squirrel with an average maximal age of 3.75 years
- Aders’s duiker with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Bank vole with an average maximal age of 4.83 years
- Spix’s yellow-toothed cavy with an average maximal age of 4.58 years