It is hard to guess what a Waterhouse’s swamp rat weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Waterhouse’s swamp rat (Scapteromys tumidus) on average weights 146 grams (0.32 lbs).
The Waterhouse’s swamp rat is from the family Muridae (genus: Scapteromys). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 8.7 cm (0′ 4″). Usually, Waterhouse’s swamp rats have 3 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.
Waterhouse’s swamp rat (Scapteromys tumidus) is a semiaquatic rodent species from South America. It is found in southern Brazil, Uruguay and northern Argentina, where it lives in freshwater and salt marshes, as well as open grassland of the pampas. Its karyotype has 2n = 24, substantially lower than its closest relative S. aquaticus with 2n = 32.
Animals of the same family as a Waterhouse’s swamp rat
We found other animals of the Muridae family:
- Sikkim rat with a size of 19 cm (0′ 8″)
- Coues’s climbing mouse with a weight of 89 grams
- Golden hamster with a weight of 98 grams
- Southern bog lemming with a weight of 28 grams
- Akodon boliviensis with a weight of 27 grams
- Bushveld gerbil with a weight of 73 grams
- Père David’s vole with a weight of 19 grams
- Akodon azarae with a weight of 25 grams
- Dusky field rat with a weight of 157 grams
- Hylaeamys megacephalus with a weight of 57 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Waterhouse’s swamp rat
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Scapteromys tumidus:
- Lesser stick-nest rat bringing 150 grams to the scale
- Piute ground squirrel bringing 165 grams to the scale
- Siberian flying squirrel bringing 143 grams to the scale
- Stein’s rat bringing 151 grams to the scale
- Ruddy treeshrew bringing 168 grams to the scale
- Magdalena rat bringing 130 grams to the scale
- Furtive tuco-tuco bringing 150 grams to the scale
- Hairless bat bringing 169 grams to the scale
- European water vole bringing 120 grams to the scale
- Brush-tailed rabbit rat bringing 175 grams to the scale
Animals with the same litter size as a Waterhouse’s swamp rat
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (3) as a Waterhouse’s swamp rat: