It is hard to guess what a Short-tailed chinchilla weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Short-tailed chinchilla (Chinchilla brevicaudata) on average weights 500 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 499 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
- Wolffsohn’s viscacha bringing 2.68 kilos (5.91 lbs) to the scale
- Northern viscacha bringing 1.22 kilos (2.69 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 brevicaudata:
- Greater bandicoot rat bringing 583 grams to the scale
- Azara’s tuco-tuco bringing 400 grams to the scale
- Greater dwarf lemur bringing 447 grams to the scale
- European hamster bringing 429 grams to the scale
- Cotton-top tamarin bringing 463 grams to the scale
- Central African oyan bringing 570 grams to the scale
- Indonesian mountain weasel bringing 466 grams to the scale
- Insular flying fox bringing 560 grams to the scale
- Giant golden mole bringing 440 grams to the scale
- Eastern gray squirrel bringing 546 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:
- Menzies’ echymipera with a size of 34.9 cm (1′ 2″)
- Northern brown bandicoot with a size of 35.4 cm (1′ 2″)
- Black-tailed prairie dog with a size of 29.4 cm (1′ 0″)
- Atlantic titi with a size of 36.2 cm (1′ 3″)
- Dinagat bushy-tailed cloud rat with a size of 26.5 cm (0′ 11″)
- Gambian pouched rat with a size of 36.3 cm (1′ 3″)
- Brown greater galago with a size of 30.7 cm (1′ 1″)
- Gunnison’s prairie dog with a size of 27.9 cm (0′ 11″)
- Long-footed potoroo with a size of 35.9 cm (1′ 3″)
- Spotted linsang with a size of 35.4 cm (1′ 2″)
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:
- Thomas’s giant deer mouse
- Fawn hopping mouse
- Jaguarundi
- Long-nosed echymipera
- Littledale’s whistling rat
- Banner-tailed kangaroo rat
- Calamian deer
- Common echymipera
- Eastern barred bandicoot
- Dusky-footed woodrat
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Short-tailed chinchilla
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Short-tailed chinchilla:
- Northern tamandua with an average maximal age of 9.5 years
- Greater bamboo lemur with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Weasel sportive lemur with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Black duiker with an average maximal age of 10.17 years
- Saiga antelope with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Parma wallaby with an average maximal age of 10 years
- Bioko Allen’s bushbaby with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Jaguarundi with an average maximal age of 10.58 years
- Gray dorcopsis with an average maximal age of 8 years
- Leadbeater’s possum with an average maximal age of 11 years