What is the maximal age a Derby’s woolly opossum reaches?
An adult Derby’s woolly opossum (Caluromys derbianus) usually gets as old as 5 years.
When born, they weight 16 grams (0.04 lbs) and measure 12.5 cm (0′ 5″). As a member of the Didelphidae family (genus: Caluromys), their offspring is 3 babies per pregnancy. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 23.1 cm (0′ 10″).
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.
Derby’s woolly opossum (Caluromys derbianus), or the Central American woolly opossum, is an opossum found in deciduous and moist evergreen forests of Central America, from southern Mexico to western Ecuador and Colombia. It was first described by English naturalist George Robert Waterhouse, and named in honor of Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. Derby’s woolly opossum is the largest in its genus, with a total length of 60 to 70 centimetres (24 to 28 in) and weight between 200 and 400 grams (7.1 and 14.1 oz). The coat is brown and the underside white-buff to golden-brown. The opossum is nocturnal (active mainly at night), arboreal (tree-living) and solitary. Diet consists of fruits, nectar, small invertebrates and vertebrates. The time when breeding takes place varies geographically. The litter size ranges from one to six. The IUCN classifies this opossum as least concern.
Animals of the same family as a Derby’s woolly opossum
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Didelphidae):
- Karimi’s fat-tailed mouse opossum getting as big as 9.5 cm (0′ 4″)
- Northern red-sided opossum becoming 1 years old
- Gray short-tailed opossum becoming 6 years old
- Woolly mouse opossum with 6 babies per pregnancy
- Emilia’s short-tailed opossum bringing the scale to 52 grams
- Neblina slender opossum getting as big as 12.3 cm (0′ 5″)
- Wood sprite gracile opossum bringing the scale to 18 grams
- Mexican mouse opossum becoming 7 years old
- Dusky slender opossum with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Anderson’s four-eyed opossum becoming 0.75 years old
Animals that reach the same age as Derby’s woolly opossum
With an average age of 5 years, Derby’s woolly opossum are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Tullberg’s soft-furred mouse usually reaching 5.17 years
- Bank vole usually reaching 4.83 years
- Lesser Egyptian jerboa usually reaching 6 years
- Desert hedgehog usually reaching 4.5 years
- Pyrenean desman usually reaching 5 years
- Musky rat-kangaroo usually reaching 6 years
- Great gerbil usually reaching 4 years
- Greater cane rat usually reaching 4.25 years
- Southern long-nosed bat usually reaching 5 years
- Hairy-tailed mole usually reaching 5 years
Animals with the same number of babies Derby’s woolly opossum
The same number of babies at once (3) are born by:
- Black-eared mouse
- Hoary bamboo rat
- Asian house shrew
- Desert warthog
- Brandt’s hedgehog
- Brandt’s hedgehog
- Himalayan pika
- Yucatan deer mouse
- Hooper’s mouse
- Egyptian mongoose
Weighting as much as Derby’s woolly opossum
A fully grown Derby’s woolly opossum reaches around 328 grams (0.72 lbs). So do these animals:
- Mentawai squirrel with 296 grams
- White-tailed olalla rat with 274 grams
- Northern glider with 278 grams
- Highland tuco-tuco with 327 grams
- Red bush squirrel with 365 grams
- Common marmoset with 291 grams
- Long-tailed giant rat with 349 grams
- Short-tailed spiny rat with 285 grams
- Catamarca tuco-tuco with 316 grams
- Samoa flying fox with 309 grams
Animals as big as a Derby’s woolly opossum
Those animals grow as big as a Derby’s woolly opossum:
- Painted ringtail possum with 26.5 cm (0′ 11″)
- Florida naked-tailed rat with 27 cm (0′ 11″)
- Long-footed treeshrew with 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Long-eared hedgehog with 21 cm (0′ 9″)
- Silvery lutung with 25.8 cm (0′ 11″)
- Orange-brown Atlantic tree-rat with 22.7 cm (0′ 9″)
- Ihering’s Atlantic spiny rat with 19.7 cm (0′ 8″)
- Common gundi with 20.8 cm (0′ 9″)
- Black and red bush squirrel with 24.3 cm (0′ 10″)
- Palawan treeshrew with 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)