It is hard to guess what a Red giant flying squirrel weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Red giant flying squirrel (Petaurista petaurista) on average weights 1.54 kg (3.38 lbs).
The Red giant flying squirrel is from the family Sciuridae (genus: Petaurista). It is usually born with about 56 grams (0.12 lbs). They can live for up to 16 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 41.1 cm (1′ 5″). Usually, Red giant flying squirrels have 1 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 red giant flying squirrel or common giant flying squirrel (Petaurista petaurista) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae (squirrels). It is found in a wide variety of forest–types, plantations and more open habitats with scattered trees in Southeast Asia, ranging north to the Himalayas and southern and central China. One of the largest arboreal squirrels, all populations have at least some reddish-brown above and pale underparts, but otherwise there are significant geographic variations in the colours. The taxonomic position of those in the Sundaic region is generally agreed upon, but there is considerable uncertainty about the others, which variously have been included in this or other species, or recognized as their own species.Like other flying squirrels, the red giant flying squirrel is mostly nocturnal and able to glide (not actually fly like a bat) long distances between trees by spreading out its patagium, skin between its limbs. It is a herbivore and the female has one, infrequently two, young per litter. Although declining locally due to habitat loss and to a lesser degree hunting, it remains overall common and it is not a threatened species.
Animals of the same family as a Red giant flying squirrel
We found other animals of the Sciuridae family:
- Peters’s squirrel with a weight of 650 grams
- Hose’s pygmy flying squirrel with a size of 7.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- Unstriped ground squirrel with a weight of 317 grams
- White-tailed antelope squirrel with a weight of 104 grams
- Uinta chipmunk with a weight of 51 grams
- Green bush squirrel with a weight of 100 grams
- Zanj sun squirrel with a weight of 347 grams
- Indian palm squirrel with a weight of 136 grams
- Allen’s chipmunk with a weight of 89 grams
- Collie’s squirrel with a weight of 498 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Red giant flying squirrel
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Petaurista petaurista:
- Grizzled giant squirrel with a weight of 1.33 kilos (2.93 lbs)
- Atlantic titi with a weight of 1.39 kilos (3.06 lbs)
- European rabbit with a weight of 1.59 kilos (3.51 lbs)
- Monjon with a weight of 1.26 kilos (2.78 lbs)
- Black jackrabbit with a weight of 1.27 kilos (2.8 lbs)
- Indian giant flying squirrel with a weight of 1.68 kilos (3.7 lbs)
- Scaly-tailed possum with a weight of 1.81 kilos (3.99 lbs)
- Beech marten with a weight of 1.67 kilos (3.68 lbs)
- Indian grey mongoose with a weight of 1.31 kilos (2.89 lbs)
- Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine with a weight of 1.75 kilos (3.86 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Red giant flying squirrel
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Red giant flying squirrel:
- Wedge-capped capuchin with a size of 40.4 cm (1′ 4″)
- Alpine woolly rat with a size of 44.2 cm (1′ 6″)
- Eastern white-eared giant rat with a size of 33.9 cm (1′ 2″)
- Stein’s cuscus with a size of 42.4 cm (1′ 5″)
- Yunnan hare with a size of 47 cm (1′ 7″)
- Small dorcopsis with a size of 38.7 cm (1′ 4″)
- Menzbier’s marmot with a size of 45 cm (1′ 6″)
- Jamaican coney with a size of 37.8 cm (1′ 3″)
- European pine marten with a size of 45.7 cm (1′ 6″)
- Bahamian raccoon with a size of 46.2 cm (1′ 7″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Red giant flying squirrel
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Red giant flying squirrel:
- Soemmerring’s gazelle
- Southeast Asian long-fingered bat
- Hairy-eared dwarf lemur
- Angolan free-tailed bat
- Seba’s short-tailed bat
- Zanzibar red colobus
- Vicuña
- Diademed sifaka
- Ollala brothers’s titi
- Smoky pocket gopher
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Red giant flying squirrel
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Red giant flying squirrel:
- Black-backed jackal with an average maximal age of 14 years
- European polecat with an average maximal age of 14 years
- European hedgehog with an average maximal age of 14 years
- Nabarlek with an average maximal age of 17 years
- Pampas fox with an average maximal age of 13.67 years
- Hirola with an average maximal age of 15.17 years
- Rhim gazelle with an average maximal age of 14 years
- Black-footed mongoose with an average maximal age of 15.83 years
- Commerson’s dolphin with an average maximal age of 18 years
- Small-toothed palm civet with an average maximal age of 15.83 years