It is hard to guess what a Russian desman weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Russian desman (Desmana moschata) on average weights 420 grams (0.93 lbs).
The Russian desman is from the family Talpidae (genus: Desmana). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 20.3 cm (0′ 8″). On average, Russian desmans can have babies 2 times per year with a litter size of 3.
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 Russian desman (Desmana moschata) (Russian: выхухоль vykhukhol’) is a small semiaquatic mammal that inhabits the Volga, Don and Ural River basins in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. It constructs burrows into the banks of ponds and slow-moving streams, but prefers small, overgrown ponds with abundance of insects, crayfish and amphibians. The Russian desman often lives in small (usually not related) groups of two to five animals, and appears to have a complex (but largely unstudied) communication and social system.
Animals of the same family as a Russian desman
We found other animals of the Talpidae family:
- Small Japanese mole with a weight of 64 grams
- Inquisitive shrew mole with a size of 7.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Broad-footed mole with a weight of 61 grams
- Japanese shrew mole with a weight of 18 grams
- Père David’s mole with a size of 14 cm (0′ 6″)
- Large mole with a size of 14.9 cm (0′ 6″)
- Kloss’s mole with 4 babies per litter
- Chinese shrew mole with a weight of 16 grams
- Blind mole with a weight of 70 grams
- Sado mole with a weight of 131 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Russian desman
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Desmana moschata:
- Beecroft’s flying squirrel bringing 479 grams to the scale
- Golden-mantled tamarin bringing 385 grams to the scale
- Southern Amazon red squirrel bringing 403 grams to the scale
- Merriam’s pocket gopher bringing 420 grams to the scale
- Northern quoll bringing 477 grams to the scale
- Short-furred Atlantic tree-rat bringing 439 grams to the scale
- Mountain giant Sunda rat bringing 419 grams to the scale
- Merriam’s pocket gopher bringing 419 grams to the scale
- Black-tufted marmoset bringing 340 grams to the scale
- Namaqua dune mole-rat bringing 389 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Russian desman
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Russian desman:
- Yellow-faced pocket gopher with a size of 19.2 cm (0′ 8″)
- Gray tree rat with a size of 19.2 cm (0′ 8″)
- Bryant’s woodrat with a size of 20.9 cm (0′ 9″)
- Collared pika with a size of 18.8 cm (0′ 8″)
- Himalayan field rat with a size of 18.2 cm (0′ 8″)
- Palawan spiny rat with a size of 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Perote ground squirrel with a size of 17.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- Eastern rat with a size of 17.3 cm (0′ 7″)
- Pygmy ringtail possum with a size of 19.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- Common treeshrew with a size of 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Russian desman
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (3) as a Russian desman: