What is the maximal age a Brown four-eyed opossum reaches?
An adult Brown four-eyed opossum (Metachirus nudicaudatus) usually gets as old as 4 years.
When born, they weight 2 grams (0 lbs) and measure 8.9 cm (0′ 4″). As a member of the Didelphidae family (genus: Metachirus), their offspring is 4 babies per pregnancy. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 26.1 cm (0′ 11″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
The brown four-eyed opossum (Metachirus nudicaudatus) is a pouchless marsupial of the family Didelphidae. It is found in different forested habitats of Central and South America, from Nicaragua to Paraguay and northern Argentina, including southeastern Colombia, western Brazil and eastern Peru and Bolivia, at elevations from sea level to 1500 m. It is the only recognized species in the genus Metachirus, but molecular phylogenetics studies suggest that it should probably be split into several species. Population densities are usually low, and it is uncommon in parts of Central America. A density of 25.6/km2 was reported near Manaus, Brazil. Its karyotype has 2n = 14 and FN = 24.It is a nocturnal, solitary, strongly terrestrial and omnivorous animal, feeding on fruits, small vertebrates and invertebrates.The brown four-eyed opossum builds nests made of leaves and twigs in tree branches or under rocks and logs. It is seasonally polyestrous and the litter size varies from one to nine.The white spot over each eye inspired the common name of “four-eyed opossum”. Its scaly tail is longer than its body.The opossum appears to be mostly insectivorous, though also consumes some types of fruit seeds, small vertebrate creatures like birds and reptiles and invertebrates like crayfish and snails. The brown four-eyed opossum is a host of the Acanthocephalan intestinal parasite Gigantorhynchus ortizi.
Animals of the same family as a Brown four-eyed opossum
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Didelphidae):
- Agile gracile opossum with 12 babies per pregnancy
- Marajó short-tailed opossum getting as big as 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Pinheiro’s slender opossum getting as big as 10.2 cm (0′ 5″)
- Anderson’s four-eyed opossum becoming 0.75 years old
- Narrow-headed slender opossum bringing the scale to 26 grams
- Chacoan pygmy opossum getting as big as 8.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Brazilian gracile opossum bringing the scale to 29 grams
- White-eared opossum becoming 1.67 years old
- Gray slender opossum bringing the scale to 54 grams
- Brazilian slender opossum bringing the scale to 38 grams
Animals that reach the same age as Brown four-eyed opossum
With an average age of 4 years, Brown four-eyed opossum are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Woodland jumping mouse usually reaching 4 years
- Brown-tailed mongoose usually reaching 4.75 years
- Kultarr usually reaching 3.25 years
- Forest dormouse usually reaching 4 years
- Botta’s pocket gopher usually reaching 4.5 years
- Desert hedgehog usually reaching 4.5 years
- Acacia rat usually reaching 3.5 years
- Siberian flying squirrel usually reaching 3.75 years
- Black-footed tree-rat usually reaching 3.83 years
- Southern grasshopper mouse usually reaching 4.58 years
Animals with the same number of babies Brown four-eyed opossum
The same number of babies at once (4) are born by:
- Long-clawed ground squirrel
- Southern African hedgehog
- Visayan warty pig
- Plains pocket mouse
- Western harvest mouse
- Panamint chipmunk
- Oligoryzomys longicaudatus
- Bushveld gerbil
- Bank vole
- Rudd’s mouse
Weighting as much as Brown four-eyed opossum
A fully grown Brown four-eyed opossum reaches around 365 grams (0.8 lbs). So do these animals:
- Emperor tamarin with 409 grams
- Striped possum with 413 grams
- Mindanao treeshrew with 301 grams
- Unstriped ground squirrel with 317 grams
- Mountain giant Sunda rat with 419 grams
- Coquerel’s giant mouse lemur with 326 grams
- Golden bandicoot with 425 grams
- Santarem marmoset with 375 grams
- Smoky pocket gopher with 403 grams
- Smoky pocket gopher with 302 grams
Animals as big as a Brown four-eyed opossum
Those animals grow as big as a Brown four-eyed opossum:
- Red-legged sun squirrel with 23.8 cm (0′ 10″)
- Long-eared hedgehog with 21 cm (0′ 9″)
- Mountain beaver with 30.7 cm (1′ 1″)
- Volcano rabbit with 29.7 cm (1′ 0″)
- Black-capped squirrel monkey with 30.9 cm (1′ 1″)
- Guyenne spiny rat with 22 cm (0′ 9″)
- Collared titi with 29.4 cm (1′ 0″)
- Northern sportive lemur with 28 cm (1′ 0″)
- Eastern spotted skunk with 30 cm (1′ 0″)
- Busuanga squirrel with 21 cm (0′ 9″)