It is hard to guess what a Ornate shrew weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Ornate shrew (Sorex ornatus) on average weights 5 grams (0.01 lbs).
The Ornate shrew is from the family Soricidae (genus: Sorex). They can live for up to 1.42 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 4.9 cm (0′ 2″). On average, Ornate shrews can have babies 1 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 ornate shrew (Sorex ornatus), is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae (shrews). It is endemic to western North America, ranging from Northern California in the United States to Baja California in Mexico. Eight subspecies are known, including the extinct tule shrew (S. o. juncensis), known only from four specimens collected in 1905, and the Suisun ornate shrew (S. o. sinuosus), a species of conservation concern in California. Through skull morphology research and genetic testing on Ornate shrew populations, it has been shown that there are three main genetic subdivisions: The Southern, Central and Northern. These three genetic subdivisions of Ornate shrew arose from populations of Ornate shrews getting geographically isolated from other populations.
Animals of the same family as a Ornate shrew
We found other animals of the Soricidae family:
- Slender shrew with a weight of 4 grams
- Mindanao shrew with a weight of 10 grams
- Mauritanian shrew with a weight of 2 grams
- Ugandan musk shrew with a weight of 23 grams
- Eurasian water shrew with a weight of 15 grams
- Egyptian pygmy shrew with a weight of 7 grams
- Prairie shrew with 7 babies per litter
- Pacific shrew with a weight of 10 grams
- Montane shrew with a weight of 6 grams
- Trowbridge’s shrew with a weight of 5 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Ornate shrew
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Sorex ornatus:
- Trinidad dog-like bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Pilbara ningaui bringing 6 grams to the scale
- Malayan horseshoe bat bringing 6 grams to the scale
- Least pipistrelle bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Pomona roundleaf bat bringing 6 grams to the scale
- Malagasy mouse-eared bat bringing 5 grams to the scale
- Thailand roundleaf bat bringing 4 grams to the scale
- Horsfield’s bat bringing 6 grams to the scale
- Goldman’s broad-clawed shrew bringing 6 grams to the scale
- Lesser dog-like bat bringing 5 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Ornate shrew
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Ornate shrew:
- Indiana bat with a size of 4.7 cm (0′ 2″)
- Woermann’s bat with a size of 4 cm (0′ 2″)
- Little brown bat with a size of 5.2 cm (0′ 3″)
- Arizona shrew with a size of 5.8 cm (0′ 3″)
- Grey long-eared bat with a size of 4.1 cm (0′ 2″)
- Townsend’s big-eared bat with a size of 5.7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Cinereus shrew with a size of 5.7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Peters’s sheath-tailed bat with a size of 5.7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Pacific sheath-tailed bat with a size of 4.7 cm (0′ 2″)
- Pygmy fruit-eating bat with a size of 5.5 cm (0′ 3″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Ornate shrew
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (4) as a Ornate shrew:
- Yellow-bellied marmot
- Tien Shan birch mouse
- Delicate slender opossum
- Mexican prairie dog
- North African gerbil
- Southern big-eared mouse
- Hodgson’s brown-toothed shrew
- New Holland mouse
- Boehm’s gerbil
- Indian gerbil
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Ornate shrew
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Ornate shrew:
- Trowbridge’s shrew with an average maximal age of 1.5 years
- Long-tailed planigale with an average maximal age of 1.25 years
- Western harvest mouse with an average maximal age of 1.5 years
- Townsend’s mole with an average maximal age of 1.5 years
- Creeping vole with an average maximal age of 1.25 years
- Malabar spiny dormouse with an average maximal age of 1.67 years
- Arctic shrew with an average maximal age of 1.5 years
- Southern red-backed vole with an average maximal age of 1.67 years
- American water shrew with an average maximal age of 1.5 years
- Southern marsupial mole with an average maximal age of 1.5 years