It is hard to guess what a Spinifex hopping mouse weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Spinifex hopping mouse (Notomys alexis) on average weights 32 grams (0.07 lbs).
The Spinifex hopping mouse is from the family Muridae (genus: Notomys). It is usually born with about 2 grams (0 lbs). They can live for up to 5.17 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 10 cm (0′ 4″). Usually, Spinifex hopping mouses have 4 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 spinifex hopping mouse (Notomys alexis), also known as the tarkawara or tarrkawarra, occurs throughout the central and western Australian arid zones, occupying both spinifex-covered sand flats and stabilised sand dunes, and loamy mulga and melaleuca flats.The population fluctuates greatly: in normal years it is sparsely distributed and probably confined to sandy country; after rain the population explodes and spreads to other types of habitat for a time. They are mostly seen at night, bounding across open ground on their large hind feet, with tails extended and the body almost horizontal. As semi-fossorial, burrowing surface foragers, the tiny hopping mice spend a great deal of energy not just foraging for food, but also transporting it back to their burrows. In fact, it was found that the total energy spent on transporting food in relation to energy investment on burrows far outweighed any other similar type of species (White, 2006).
Animals of the same family as a Spinifex hopping mouse
We found other animals of the Muridae family:
- Togo mouse with a weight of 55 grams
- Luzon montane forest mouse with a weight of 34 grams
- Mitchell’s hopping mouse with a weight of 42 grams
- Günther’s vole with a weight of 50 grams
- Akodon aerosus with a weight of 60 grams
- Winter white dwarf hamster with a weight of 30 grams
- African groove-toothed rat with a weight of 111 grams
- Crested-tailed deer mouse with a weight of 40 grams
- Fly River water rat with a size of 14.6 cm (0′ 6″)
- Olive montane mouse with a weight of 37 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Spinifex hopping mouse
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Notomys alexis:
- Dune hairy-footed gerbil bringing 29 grams to the scale
- Hazel dormouse bringing 29 grams to the scale
- Deroo’s mouse bringing 32 grams to the scale
- Short-palated fruit bat bringing 28 grams to the scale
- Chinese dormouse bringing 31 grams to the scale
- Woodford’s fruit bat bringing 30 grams to the scale
- White-winged vampire bat bringing 36 grams to the scale
- Macroscelides proboscideus bringing 38 grams to the scale
- Oligoryzomys longicaudatus bringing 27 grams to the scale
- Paraguayan fat-tailed mouse opossum bringing 34 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Spinifex hopping mouse
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Spinifex hopping mouse:
- Smith’s shrew with a size of 8.4 cm (0′ 4″)
- Olrog’s chaco mouse with a size of 9.6 cm (0′ 4″)
- Robert’s hocicudo with a size of 10 cm (0′ 4″)
- Bushy-tailed hairy-footed gerbil with a size of 9.8 cm (0′ 4″)
- Black-tailed dasyure with a size of 10.8 cm (0′ 5″)
- Northern red-backed vole with a size of 10.9 cm (0′ 5″)
- Dickey’s deer mouse with a size of 10 cm (0′ 4″)
- Visagie’s golden mole with a size of 10.6 cm (0′ 5″)
- Bank vole with a size of 10.6 cm (0′ 5″)
- Aegialomys galapagoensis with a size of 11.2 cm (0′ 5″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Spinifex hopping mouse
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (4) as a Spinifex hopping mouse:
- Large bamboo rat
- Nectomys squamipes
- Barbary striped grass mouse
- Japanese grass vole
- Chestnut white-bellied rat
- Giant forest hog
- Side-striped jackal
- Caucasian squirrel
- Tarbagan marmot
- Long-clawed ground squirrel
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Spinifex hopping mouse
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Spinifex hopping mouse:
- Long-legged myotis with an average maximal age of 4.25 years
- Plains rat with an average maximal age of 5.58 years
- Mexican funnel-eared bat with an average maximal age of 4.75 years
- White-tailed rat with an average maximal age of 6 years
- Virginia opossum with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Hazel dormouse with an average maximal age of 6 years
- Yellow-pine chipmunk with an average maximal age of 5.17 years
- Eastern barred bandicoot with an average maximal age of 5.5 years
- Bunny rat with an average maximal age of 5.5 years
- Brown-tailed mongoose with an average maximal age of 4.75 years