It is hard to guess what a North American least shrew weights. But we have the answer:
An adult North American least shrew (Cryptotis parva) on average weights 4 grams (0.01 lbs).
The North American least shrew is from the family Soricidae (genus: Cryptotis). They can live for up to 1.75 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 6.8 cm (0′ 3″). On average, North American least shrews can have babies 2 times per year with a litter size of 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 North American least shrew (Cryptotis parva) is one of the smallest mammals, growing to be only up to 3 inches long. It has a long pointed snout and a tail never more than twice the length of its hind foot. The dense fur coat is either grayish-brown or reddish-brown with a white belly. Its fur becomes lighter in the summer and darker in the winter. Although similar in appearance to several species of rodents, all shrews are members of the order Soricomorpha and should not be mistaken for a member of the Rodentia order. The North American least shrew’s eyes are small and its ears are completely concealed within its short fur, giving it very poor eyesight and hearing.
Animals of the same family as a North American least shrew
We found other animals of the Soricidae family:
- Bicolored shrew with a weight of 10 grams
- Kongana shrew with a weight of 5 grams
- Dwarf shrew with a weight of 2 grams
- Asiatic short-tailed shrew with a weight of 12 grams
- Large-eared gray shrew with a weight of 5 grams
- Kilimanjaro shrew with a weight of 16 grams
- Smoky shrew with a weight of 7 grams
- Hildegarde’s shrew with a weight of 10 grams
- Goodwin’s broad-clawed shrew with a weight of 7 grams
- Chinese shrew with a size of 7 cm (0′ 3″)
Animals with the same weight as a North American least shrew
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Cryptotis parva:
- Slender shrew bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Saussure’s shrew bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Riparian myotis bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Peters’s trumpet-eared bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Pipistrellus babu bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Crawford’s gray shrew bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Thailand roundleaf bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Temminck’s trident bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Pygmy shrew tenrec bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Brown tube-nosed bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a North American least shrew
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as North American least shrew:
- Eastern harvest mouse with a size of 6.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Little desert pocket mouse with a size of 6.8 cm (0′ 3″)
- Long-tailed shrew with a size of 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- Serotine bat with a size of 6.8 cm (0′ 3″)
- Saint Lawrence Island shrew with a size of 6.3 cm (0′ 3″)
- True’s shrew mole with a size of 6.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Eurasian harvest mouse with a size of 5.9 cm (0′ 3″)
- Lesser tube-nosed fruit bat with a size of 7.7 cm (0′ 4″)
- Allen’s big-eared bat with a size of 5.9 cm (0′ 3″)
- Tailed tailless bat with a size of 5.8 cm (0′ 3″)
Animals with the same litter size as a North American least shrew
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (4) as a North American least shrew:
- Southern African hedgehog
- Nectomys squamipes
- Black-tailed gerbil
- Kloss’s mole
- Bushveld gerbil
- Hoary marmot
- Oligoryzomys longicaudatus
- Indian desert jird
- Giant kangaroo rat
- Chelemys macronyx
Animals with the same life expectancy as a North American least shrew
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a North American least shrew:
- Robinson’s mouse opossum with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Brush mouse with an average maximal age of 1.5 years
- Swamp antechinus with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Wongai ningaui with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Mongolian gerbil with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Long-clawed shrew with an average maximal age of 1.5 years
- Eurasian pygmy shrew with an average maximal age of 2 years
- Campbell’s dwarf hamster with an average maximal age of 1.75 years
- Red-cheeked dunnart with an average maximal age of 2 years
- White-eared opossum with an average maximal age of 1.67 years