It is hard to guess what a Madagascan flying fox weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Madagascan flying fox (Pteropus rufus) on average weights 122 grams (0.27 lbs).
The Madagascan flying fox is from the family Pteropodidae (genus: Pteropus). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 8.4 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 Madagascan flying fox, Madagascar flying-fox, or Madagascar fruit bat (Pteropus rufus) is a species of megabat in the genus Pteropus. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. It eats figs and other fruits, flowers, and leaves.
Animals of the same family as a Madagascan flying fox
We found other animals of the Pteropodidae family:
- Spotted-winged fruit bat with a weight of 14 grams
- Lesser naked-backed fruit bat with a weight of 85 grams
- Mindanao pygmy fruit bat with a weight of 16 grams
- Aldabra flying fox with a weight of 309 grams
- Black-bellied fruit bat with a weight of 47 grams
- Large flying fox bringing 1.03 kilos (2.27 lbs) to the scale
- Sunda flying fox with a weight of 466 grams
- Philippine dawn bat with a weight of 78 grams
- Andersen’s naked-backed fruit bat with a weight of 233 grams
- Guadalcanal monkey-faced bat with a weight of 489 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Madagascan flying fox
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Pteropus rufus:
- White-eared cotton rat bringing 132 grams to the scale
- Black-tailed gerbil bringing 123 grams to the scale
- Brants’s whistling rat bringing 129 grams to the scale
- Greater fairy armadillo bringing 130 grams to the scale
- Sanborn’s squirrel bringing 136 grams to the scale
- Sloggett’s vlei rat bringing 106 grams to the scale
- Bush rat bringing 124 grams to the scale
- Desert kangaroo rat bringing 108 grams to the scale
- Southern pocket gopher bringing 126 grams to the scale
- Major’s tufted-tailed rat bringing 100 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Madagascan flying fox
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Madagascan flying fox:
- Long-tongued nectar bat with a size of 6.8 cm (0′ 3″)
- Greater mouse-eared bat with a size of 7.2 cm (0′ 3″)
- Forrest’s mouse with a size of 8.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- Steppe lemming with a size of 9.3 cm (0′ 4″)
- Common tube-nosed fruit bat with a size of 8.2 cm (0′ 4″)
- Pallas’s pika with a size of 8.2 cm (0′ 4″)
- Smith’s shrew with a size of 8.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- Lesser tube-nosed fruit bat with a size of 7.7 cm (0′ 4″)
- Wood sprite gracile opossum with a size of 9.5 cm (0′ 4″)
- Yellow-sided opossum with a size of 9.9 cm (0′ 4″)