It is hard to guess what a Southern flying squirrel weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) on average weights 72 grams (0.16 lbs).
The Southern flying squirrel is from the family Sciuridae (genus: Glaucomys). It is usually born with about 3 grams (0.01 lbs). They can live for up to 12 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 12.7 cm (0′ 5″). On average, Southern flying squirrels 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 southern flying squirrel or the assapan (Glaucomys volans) is one of three species of the genus Glaucomys and one of three flying squirrel species found in North America. It is found in deciduous and mixed woods in the eastern half of North America, from southeastern Canada, to Florida. Disjunct distribution for populations of this species have been recorded in the highlands of Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.
Animals of the same family as a Southern flying squirrel
We found other animals of the Sciuridae family:
- Allen’s squirrel with a weight of 465 grams
- Cliff chipmunk with a weight of 63 grams
- Colorado chipmunk with a weight of 57 grams
- Columbian ground squirrel with a weight of 471 grams
- Uinta chipmunk with a weight of 51 grams
- Boehm’s bush squirrel with a weight of 70 grams
- Indian palm squirrel with a weight of 136 grams
- Temminck’s flying squirrel with a weight of 43 grams
- Philippine tree squirrel with a size of 21 cm (0′ 9″)
- Northern flying squirrel with a weight of 138 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Southern flying squirrel
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Glaucomys volans:
- California kangaroo rat bringing 85 grams to the scale
- Philippine dawn bat bringing 78 grams to the scale
- Montane Oldfield mouse bringing 77 grams to the scale
- Oryzomys couesi bringing 69 grams to the scale
- Gray-cheeked flying squirrel bringing 63 grams to the scale
- Striped Atlantic Forest rat bringing 67 grams to the scale
- Malaita tube-nosed fruit bat bringing 78 grams to the scale
- San Quintin kangaroo rat bringing 84 grams to the scale
- Taczanowski’s Oldfield mouse bringing 77 grams to the scale
- Angolan rousette bringing 68 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Southern flying squirrel
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Southern flying squirrel:
- Long-footed water rat with a size of 15.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Long-nosed dasyure with a size of 12.1 cm (0′ 5″)
- Dusky hopping mouse with a size of 12 cm (0′ 5″)
- Gray-bellied tree mouse with a size of 10.8 cm (0′ 5″)
- African wading rat with a size of 12.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Chinese water shrew with a size of 10.2 cm (0′ 5″)
- Mindanao montane forest mouse with a size of 10.9 cm (0′ 5″)
- Southern marsupial mole with a size of 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Web-footed tenrec with a size of 14.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Siberian chipmunk with a size of 14.8 cm (0′ 6″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Southern flying squirrel
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (3) as a Southern flying squirrel:
- Rusty-bellied brush-furred rat
- Gambian pouched rat
- Mountain pocket gopher
- Dark-tailed tree rat
- Tyler’s mouse opossum
- Crosse’s shrew
- Oryzomys couesi
- Woodland thicket rat
- Gray climbing mouse
- Père David’s mole
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Southern flying squirrel
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Southern flying squirrel:
- Black-backed jackal with an average maximal age of 14 years
- Grey rhebok with an average maximal age of 12.25 years
- Steenbok with an average maximal age of 14 years
- Fulvus roundleaf bat with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Heterohyrax antineae with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Brown mouse lemur with an average maximal age of 12 years
- Common bent-wing bat with an average maximal age of 14 years
- Pale fox with an average maximal age of 10 years
- Golden hamster with an average maximal age of 10 years
- Arabian gazelle with an average maximal age of 11.25 years