It is hard to guess what a Rajah spiny rat weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Rajah spiny rat (Maxomys rajah) on average weights 150 grams (0.33 lbs).
The Rajah spiny rat is from the family Muridae (genus: Maxomys). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 16.7 cm (0′ 7″). Usually, Rajah spiny rats have 3 babies per litter.
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 Rajah spiny rat (Maxomys rajah) also known as the brown spiny rat is endemic to Thailand and Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo and the adjacent islands (Payne et al., 1985). Corbet and Hill (1992) mention that Maxomys rats are often the most common rodent in the Southeast Asian tropical forest, from most of the Malay Archipelago to Sulawesi, Palawan and Borneo. This species can be found in primary forest and logged-over forest. According to Payne et al.,(1985) this species lives in primary or secondary forest and tends to favour sandy and lowland sites. This terrestrial species is mostly active on the ground but occasionally climbs into the upper canopy. Its tend to live separately from other rats.M. rajah is medium in size where the upperparts are brown, darker in the midline, with numerous stiff gray-brown spines. The underparts are white with many short, white spines, and usually with a dark brown streak along the middle in adults, but never with an orange throat patch. The white color of the underparts extend down in a narrow line to the feet. Above the tail is brown, pale below and thinly haired. Usually, the range of the measurement of M. rajah are HB 138.1-218, T 142-210, T/HB = 102.9-109.3%, HF 33.8-43, E 21.9-22.3, Wt 71-218 g, D 1003/1003=16, M 2+2=8. Skull: gl 40.9-48.6, iob 6.6-7.4, mt 6.9-8.1.The immature Red Spiny Rats, M. surifer is similar M. rajah and quite difficult to distinguish. (Payne et al., 1985).M.rajah is a common species but Yasuda et al., (2000) reported that very little is known about the ecological features of Maxomys rats.
Animals of the same family as a Rajah spiny rat
We found other animals of the Muridae family:
- Volcano harvest mouse with a weight of 19 grams
- Neacomys tenuipes with a weight of 19 grams
- Ilin Island cloudrunner with a size of 25.3 cm (0′ 10″)
- Dinagat bushy-tailed cloud rat with a size of 26.5 cm (0′ 11″)
- Marmoset rat with a weight of 70 grams
- Oecomys flavicans with a weight of 73 grams
- Osgood’s leaf-eared mouse with a weight of 45 grams
- Carpentarian rock rat with a weight of 123 grams
- Issel’s groove-toothed swamp rat with a weight of 60 grams
- Eurasian harvest mouse with a weight of 7 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Rajah spiny rat
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Maxomys rajah:
- Golden-mantled ground squirrel bringing 175 grams to the scale
- Spectral tarsier bringing 166 grams to the scale
- Middle East blind mole-rat bringing 164 grams to the scale
- Banner-tailed kangaroo rat bringing 125 grams to the scale
- Luzon striped rat bringing 152 grams to the scale
- Knox Jones’s pocket gopher bringing 172 grams to the scale
- Sulawesi stripe-faced fruit bat bringing 172 grams to the scale
- Mountain degu bringing 154 grams to the scale
- Amazonian marsh rat bringing 120 grams to the scale
- Ghost bat bringing 124 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Rajah spiny rat
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Rajah spiny rat:
- Greater fairy armadillo with a size of 15.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Long-footed water rat with a size of 15.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Large mole with a size of 14.9 cm (0′ 6″)
- Senegal bushbaby with a size of 16 cm (0′ 7″)
- Spotted ground squirrel with a size of 14.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Indian long-eared hedgehog with a size of 16.3 cm (0′ 7″)
- Voalavoanala with a size of 14.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Lesser hedgehog tenrec with a size of 16 cm (0′ 7″)
- Yellow-faced pocket gopher with a size of 19.2 cm (0′ 8″)
- Douglas squirrel with a size of 19.1 cm (0′ 8″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Rajah spiny rat
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (3) as a Rajah spiny rat: