What is the maximal age a Etruscan shrew reaches?
An adult Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus) usually gets as old as 2.67 years.
Etruscan shrews are around 27 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 11.3 kg (24.91 lbs) and measure 1.4 cm (0′ 1″). As a member of the Soricidae family (genus: Suncus), a Etruscan shrew caries out around 4 little ones per pregnancy, which happens around 3 times a year. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 45.4 cm (1′ 6″).
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 Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus), also known as the Etruscan pygmy shrew or the white-toothed pygmy shrew, is the smallest known mammal by mass, weighing only about 1.8 grams (0.063 oz) on average. (The bumblebee bat is regarded as the smallest mammal by skull size and body length.)The Etruscan shrew has a body length of about 4 centimetres (1.6 in) excluding the tail. It is characterized by very rapid movements and a fast metabolism, eating about 1.5–2 times its own body weight per day. It feeds on various small vertebrates and invertebrates, mostly insects, and can hunt individuals of the same size as itself. These shrews prefer warm and damp climates and are widely distributed in the belt between 10° and 30°N latitude stretching from Europe and North Africa up to Malaysia. They are also found in the Maltese islands, situated in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. Although widespread and not threatened overall, they are generally uncommon and are endangered in some countries.
Animals of the same family as a Etruscan shrew
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Soricidae):
- Gansu shrew with 5 babies per pregnancy
- Moonshine shrew with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Doucet’s musk shrew bringing the scale to 4 grams
- Mexican small-eared shrew with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Geata mouse shrew with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Saussure’s shrew bringing the scale to 4 grams
- American water shrew becoming 1.5 years old
- Transcaucasian water shrew getting as big as 8.6 cm (0′ 4″)
- Chinese shrew getting as big as 7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Reddish-gray musk shrew with 3 babies per pregnancy
Animals that reach the same age as Etruscan shrew
With an average age of 2.67 years, Etruscan shrew are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Winter white dwarf hamster usually reaching 3.17 years
- Ooldea dunnart usually reaching 3 years
- Japanese mountain mole usually reaching 3 years
- Star-nosed mole usually reaching 3 years
- Coast mole usually reaching 3 years
- Brown antechinus usually reaching 3 years
- Lowland streaked tenrec usually reaching 2.67 years
- Little red kaluta usually reaching 3 years
- Eurasian water shrew usually reaching 3 years
- Dibbler usually reaching 3 years
Animals with the same number of babies Etruscan shrew
The same number of babies at once (4) are born by:
- Turkestan rat
- White-footed mouse
- Beach vole
- Northern pika
- Olympic marmot
- Tien Shan birch mouse
- Creek groove-toothed swamp rat
- Japanese dormouse
- African pygmy mouse
- Western pygmy possum
Weighting as much as Etruscan shrew
A fully grown Etruscan shrew reaches around 2 grams (0 lbs). So do these animals:
- Tiny pipistrelle with 2 grams
- Eurasian least shrew with 2 grams
- Flat-headed shrew with 2 grams
- Borneo roundleaf bat with 2 grams
- Desert pipistrelle with 2 grams
- Dark sheath-tailed bat with 2 grams
- Madagascan pygmy shrew with 2 grams
- Mauritanian shrew with 2 grams
- Nyctophilus geoffroyi with 2 grams
- Black myotis with 2 grams