It is hard to guess what a Long-eared flying mouse weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Long-eared flying mouse (Idiurus macrotis) on average weights 27 grams (0.06 lbs).
The Long-eared flying mouse is from the family Anomaluridae (genus: Idiurus). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 8.7 cm (0′ 4″).
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 long-eared flying mouse (Idiurus macrotis) or long-eared scaly-tailed flying squirrel, is a species of flying mouse from western and central Africa. It is not actually a squirrel, nor a mouse, though it is a rodent. Not much is known about them because they are very hard to keep alive in captivity.To achieve gliding flight, it uses two membranes (patagia) which fold up when not in use. When the limbs are stretched wide in a star-shape, the membranes become taut and allow the rodent to glide from tree to tree. Being arboreal, Idiurus spends all of its time in the trees, living in hollow trunks in groups of 2 to 40. Limit information suggests that it is mainly frugivorous. It has a long tail in proportion to its body, sporting two lines of raised scales, and patches of scaly skin to help it grip trees, but the rest of its body is furry. The tail is longer than the body and is also used to balance, like a primate’s tail. Long-eared scaly-tailed flying squirrels are about 20 cm long and weigh 30g. In comparison, the body of a common household mouse is approximately 10 cm long and its tail is approximately 5 cm.
Animals of the same family as a Long-eared flying mouse
We found other animals of the Anomaluridae family:
- Pel’s flying squirrel bringing 1.77 kilos (3.9 lbs) to the scale
- Cameroon scaly-tail with a weight of 200 grams
- Lord Derby’s scaly-tailed squirrel with a weight of 665 grams
- Beecroft’s flying squirrel with a weight of 479 grams
- Dwarf scaly-tailed squirrel with a weight of 250 grams
- Pygmy scaly-tailed flying squirrel with a weight of 100 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Long-eared flying mouse
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Idiurus macrotis:
- Taiwan field mouse bringing 25 grams to the scale
- Northern grasshopper mouse bringing 27 grams to the scale
- Dragon tube-nosed fruit bat bringing 30 grams to the scale
- Oligoryzomys nigripes bringing 29 grams to the scale
- Woodford’s fruit bat bringing 30 grams to the scale
- Abrothrix sanborni bringing 24 grams to the scale
- Heart-nosed bat bringing 26 grams to the scale
- Southern African spiny mouse bringing 26 grams to the scale
- Crafty vesper mouse bringing 27 grams to the scale
- Koford’s grass mouse bringing 29 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Long-eared flying mouse
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Long-eared flying mouse:
- Gansu shrew with a size of 8 cm (0′ 4″)
- Duthie’s golden mole with a size of 10 cm (0′ 4″)
- Incan caenolestid with a size of 9.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Greater short-nosed fruit bat with a size of 9.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Savanna path shrew with a size of 8.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- Western chestnut mouse with a size of 10.1 cm (0′ 4″)
- Olrog’s chaco mouse with a size of 9.6 cm (0′ 4″)
- Tufted pygmy squirrel with a size of 8.3 cm (0′ 4″)
- Chestnut dunnart with a size of 9.2 cm (0′ 4″)
- Mole-like rice tenrec with a size of 10.4 cm (0′ 5″)