It is hard to guess what a Mongolian gerbil weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) on average weights 57 grams (0.13 lbs).
The Mongolian gerbil is from the family Muridae (genus: Meriones). It is usually born with about 2 grams (0 lbs). They can live for up to 2 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 11.2 cm (0′ 5″). On average, Mongolian gerbils can have babies 3 times per year with a litter size of 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 Mongolian gerbil or Mongolian jird (Meriones unguiculatus) is a small rodent belonging to the subfamily Gerbillinae. Body size is typically 110–135mm, with a 95–120mm tail, and body weight 60–130g, with adult males larger than females. The animal is used in science and kept as a small house pet. Their use in science dates back to the latter half of the 19th century, but they only started to be kept as pets after 1954, when they were brought to the United States. However, their use in scientific research has fallen out of favor.
Animals of the same family as a Mongolian gerbil
We found other animals of the Muridae family:
- Delicate vesper mouse with a weight of 13 grams
- Lesser tufted-tailed rat with a weight of 57 grams
- White-eared cotton rat with a weight of 132 grams
- Ernst Mayr’s water rat with a weight of 42 grams
- Cameroon soft-furred mouse with a weight of 41 grams
- Namaqua rock rat with a weight of 57 grams
- Serra do Mar grass mouse with a weight of 28 grams
- Typical vlei rat with 1 babies per litter
- Oligoryzomys destructor with a weight of 25 grams
- California mouse with a weight of 42 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Mongolian gerbil
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Meriones unguiculatus:
- Cliff chipmunk bringing 63 grams to the scale
- Andean swamp rat bringing 64 grams to the scale
- Short-tailed gymnure bringing 60 grams to the scale
- Mamore arboreal rice rat bringing 62 grams to the scale
- Yellow-pine chipmunk bringing 50 grams to the scale
- Hylaeamys megacephalus bringing 57 grams to the scale
- Dwarf fat-tailed jerboa bringing 52 grams to the scale
- Pale gerbil bringing 52 grams to the scale
- Thick-tailed three-toed jerboa bringing 60 grams to the scale
- East African little collared fruit bat bringing 53 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Mongolian gerbil
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Mongolian gerbil:
- Common vole with a size of 11.4 cm (0′ 5″)
- Big-eared kangaroo rat with a size of 12.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Aegialomys galapagoensis with a size of 11.2 cm (0′ 5″)
- Incan caenolestid with a size of 9.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Woodland vole with a size of 9.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Hairy-tailed mole with a size of 12.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Short-snouted elephant shrew with a size of 11.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Soft-furred Oldfield mouse with a size of 11.2 cm (0′ 5″)
- Northern Luzon shrew-rat with a size of 10.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Stirton’s deer mouse with a size of 10.1 cm (0′ 4″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Mongolian gerbil
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (5) as a Mongolian gerbil:
- Middendorf’s vole
- Siberian large-toothed shrew
- Black-capped marmot
- Olive grass mouse
- Mearns’s pouched mouse
- Vagrant shrew
- Cliff chipmunk
- Southern red-backed vole
- Four-striped grass mouse
- Asia Minor ground squirrel
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Mongolian gerbil
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Mongolian gerbil:
- Cinereus shrew with an average maximal age of 1.92 years
- Grant’s golden mole with an average maximal age of 2 years
- North American least shrew with an average maximal age of 1.75 years
- Eastern harvest mouse with an average maximal age of 2.17 years
- Honey possum with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Southern red-backed vole with an average maximal age of 1.67 years
- Tundra vole with an average maximal age of 1.75 years
- Feather-tailed possum with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Marsh rice rat with an average maximal age of 2.33 years
- Wongai ningaui with an average maximal age of 2 years