It is hard to guess what a Spix’s yellow-toothed cavy weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Spix’s yellow-toothed cavy (Galea spixii) on average weights 361 grams (0.8 lbs).
The Spix’s yellow-toothed cavy is from the family Caviidae (genus: Galea). It is usually born with about 33 grams (0.07 lbs). They can live for up to 4.58 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 12 cm (0′ 5″). On average, Spix’s yellow-toothed cavys can have babies 6 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.
Spix’s yellow-toothed cavy (Galea spixii) is a rodent, a cavy species from South America. It is found in Bolivia east of the Andes and much of south central to northeastern Brazil. The species is found in open savanna and semiarid habitats, such as the Cerrado and Caatinga of Brazil. Its karyotype is 2n = 64 and FN = 118.Galea spixii and G. musteloides are similar and may actually be the same species. G. spixii tolerates a wide range of environmental changes, though they need open habitats. It is the most stable species within the Galea group because it is extremely abundant throughout its range.Gestation is about fifty days. Litters size ranges from one to five, with an average of three. They have hair and open eyes at birth. Maturation of the two sexes takes differently long: female G. spixii have an open vagina when they are approximately eighty days old while the testicular descent is completed in male G. spixii at around one hundred thirty-five days old. Males and females in this species are aggressive to each other. Paternal care is rarely remarkable. When females go into estrus aggressiveness increases. On the other hand, when male approaches females in order to mate, it competes aggressively with other males. A study done in Brazil reported that nine male cavies were put to death to experiment their sperm recovery by soaking or injecting their sperm into a liquid that contained a chemical buffer. Unfortunately, there were no distinctive results between either soaking or injecting.
Animals of the same family as a Spix’s yellow-toothed cavy
We found other animals of the Caviidae family:
- Shiny guinea pig with a weight of 283 grams
- Andean mountain cavy with a weight of 255 grams
- Lesser capybara bringing 21.27 kilos (46.89 lbs) to the scale
- Brazilian yellow-toothed cavy with a weight of 450 grams
- Shipton’s mountain cavy with a weight of 185 grams
- Common yellow-toothed cavy with a weight of 387 grams
- Rock cavy with a weight of 800 grams
- Montane guinea pig bringing 1 kilos (2.2 lbs) to the scale
- Chacoan mara bringing 1.61 kilos (3.55 lbs) to the scale
- Brazilian guinea pig with a weight of 524 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Spix’s yellow-toothed cavy
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Galea spixii:
- Common marmoset bringing 291 grams to the scale
- Namaqua dune mole-rat bringing 389 grams to the scale
- Merriam’s pocket gopher bringing 419 grams to the scale
- Pygmy slow loris bringing 343 grams to the scale
- Goya tuco-tuco bringing 400 grams to the scale
- Japen rat bringing 380 grams to the scale
- Gray four-eyed opossum bringing 426 grams to the scale
- Smoky pocket gopher bringing 403 grams to the scale
- Emperor tamarin bringing 409 grams to the scale
- Desert hedgehog bringing 396 grams to the scale
Animals with the same litter size as a Spix’s yellow-toothed cavy
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (2) as a Spix’s yellow-toothed cavy:
- Common rock rat
- Lowland ringtail possum
- Greater tree mouse
- Eastern common cuscus
- Angoni vlei rat
- Mexican deer mouse
- Cape short-eared gerbil
- Short-tailed chinchilla
- Least pygmy squirrel
- Fossa (animal)
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Spix’s yellow-toothed cavy
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Spix’s yellow-toothed cavy:
- Siberian flying squirrel with an average maximal age of 3.75 years
- Western quoll with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Bank vole with an average maximal age of 4.83 years
- Yellow-faced pocket gopher with an average maximal age of 4.67 years
- Long-legged myotis with an average maximal age of 4.25 years
- Meadow jumping mouse with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Saharan striped polecat with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Sandhill dunnart with an average maximal age of 5 years
- Black-footed tree-rat with an average maximal age of 3.83 years
- Fat-tailed gerbil with an average maximal age of 4.33 years