It is hard to guess what a Short-tailed chinchilla weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Short-tailed chinchilla (Chinchilla chinchilla) on average weights 499 grams (1.1 lbs).
The Short-tailed chinchilla is from the family Chinchillidae (genus: Chinchilla). They can live for up to 10 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 30.5 cm (1′ 1″). On average, Short-tailed chinchillas can have babies 2 times per year with a litter size of 2.
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 short-tailed chinchilla (Chinchilla chinchilla; formerly C. brevicaudata)—also called the Bolivian, Peruvian, or royal chinchilla—is an endangered species of South American rodent, and one of two species in the genus Chinchilla. Their original native range extended throughout the Andes Mountains of Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. These animals were exploited for their luxurious fur, causing their numbers in the wild to dwindle. The other species of chinchilla is also endangered; C. lanigera, or the long-tailed chinchilla, is the wild ancestor of the domestic chinchilla, which is commonly raised as a pocket pet throughout the world.
Animals of the same family as a Short-tailed chinchilla
We found other animals of the Chinchillidae family:
- Long-tailed chinchilla with a weight of 480 grams
- Short-tailed chinchilla with a weight of 500 grams
- Southern viscacha bringing 1.54 kilos (3.4 lbs) to the scale
- Plains viscacha bringing 4.66 kilos (10.27 lbs) to the scale
- Northern viscacha bringing 1.22 kilos (2.69 lbs) to the scale
- Wolffsohn’s viscacha bringing 2.68 kilos (5.91 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Short-tailed chinchilla
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Chinchilla chinchilla:
- Masoala fork-marked lemur bringing 409 grams to the scale
- Squirrel-toothed rat bringing 511 grams to the scale
- Kashmir flying squirrel bringing 510 grams to the scale
- Striped possum bringing 413 grams to the scale
- San Luis tuco-tuco bringing 400 grams to the scale
- Merriam’s pocket gopher bringing 420 grams to the scale
- Franklin’s ground squirrel bringing 458 grams to the scale
- Eastern gray squirrel bringing 546 grams to the scale
- Lutrine opossum bringing 556 grams to the scale
- Golden lion tamarin bringing 593 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Short-tailed chinchilla
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Short-tailed chinchilla:
- Javan mongoose with a size of 27.5 cm (0′ 11″)
- New England cottontail with a size of 36.3 cm (1′ 3″)
- Moonrat with a size of 32.7 cm (1′ 1″)
- Painted ringtail possum with a size of 26.5 cm (0′ 11″)
- Giant Atlantic tree-rat with a size of 28.1 cm (1′ 0″)
- Weyland ringtail possum with a size of 31 cm (1′ 1″)
- Hispaniolan solenodon with a size of 30.6 cm (1′ 1″)
- Raffray’s bandicoot with a size of 34.6 cm (1′ 2″)
- Atlantic titi with a size of 36.2 cm (1′ 3″)
- Hispaniolan hutia with a size of 30 cm (1′ 0″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Short-tailed chinchilla
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (2) as a Short-tailed chinchilla:
- Richmond’s squirrel
- Menzbier’s marmot
- Lowland ringtail possum
- White-footed tamarin
- Mountain treeshrew
- Afghan vole
- Crested porcupine
- Chiruromys lamia
- Spotted linsang
- Volcano rabbit
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Short-tailed chinchilla
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Short-tailed chinchilla:
- Whiskered bat with an average maximal age of 9.25 years
- Plains viscacha with an average maximal age of 9.33 years
- Greater fairy armadillo with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Taruca with an average maximal age of 10.58 years
- Eastern bettong with an average maximal age of 11.75 years
- Gray brocket with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Southern tamandua with an average maximal age of 9 years
- Complex-toothed flying squirrel with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Pallas’s long-tongued bat with an average maximal age of 10 years
- Long-nosed potoroo with an average maximal age of 12 years