What is the maximal age a Greater cane rat reaches?
An adult Greater cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus) usually gets as old as 4.25 years.
Greater cane rats are around 125 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 119 grams (0.26 lbs) and measure 36.8 cm (1′ 3″). As a member of the Thryonomyidae family (genus: Thryonomys), a Greater cane rat caries out around 3 little ones per pregnancy, which happens around 2 times a year. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 15.2 cm (0′ 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 greater cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus) is one of two species of cane rats, a small family of African hystricognath rodents. The cane rat lives by reed-beds and riverbanks in Sub-Saharan Africa. Cane rats can grow to nearly 60 cm (2.0 ft) in length and weigh a little less than 8.5 kg (19 lb). It has rounded ears, a short nose, and coarse bristly hair. Its forefeet are smaller than its hind feet, each with three toes.Cane rats live in small groups led by a single male. They are nocturnal and make nests from grasses or burrow underground. Individuals of the species may live in excess of four years. If frightened, they grunt and run towards water. So far, their conservation status is lower risk.As humans expanded into the cane rat’s native habitats, the cane rats likewise expanded from their native reeds into the plantations, particularly the sugar cane plantations from which they derive their name. Their tendency to adopt plantations as habitat, where they feed on agricultural crops such as maize, wheat, sugar-cane and cassava, often earns them the label of agricultural pest. However, the peoples of the region also utilize the cane rat as a food source (as bushmeat), considering the meat a delicacy. Consequently, grasscutters (as they are often called in Ghana, Nigeria and other regions of West Africa) are beginning to be raised in cages for sale.
Animals of the same family as a Greater cane rat
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Thryonomyidae):
- Lesser cane rat with 2 babies per pregnancy
Animals that reach the same age as Greater cane rat
With an average age of 4.25 years, Greater cane rat are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Virginia opossum usually reaching 5 years
- Western quoll usually reaching 5 years
- Mexican funnel-eared bat usually reaching 4.75 years
- European hamster usually reaching 4 years
- Gray four-eyed opossum usually reaching 3.5 years
- Euphrates jerboa usually reaching 4.17 years
- Long-tailed dunnart usually reaching 5 years
- Forest dormouse usually reaching 4 years
- Little free-tailed bat usually reaching 5 years
- Southern brown bandicoot usually reaching 3.75 years
Animals with the same number of babies Greater cane rat
The same number of babies at once (3) are born by:
- Hoary fox
- Transbaikal zokor
- Swamp rabbit
- Oldfield mouse
- Large-eared tenrec
- Ochre mole-rat
- Salvin’s spiny pocket mouse
- Singing vole
- Jackson’s soft-furred mouse
- Djoongari
Weighting as much as Greater cane rat
A fully grown Greater cane rat reaches around 3.75 kg (8.27 lbs). So do these animals:
- Mountain hare weighting 3.11 kilos (6.86 lbs) on average
- Grivet weighting 3.86 kilos (8.51 lbs) on average
- Arctic hare weighting 4.42 kilos (9.74 lbs) on average
- European hare weighting 3.82 kilos (8.42 lbs) on average
- Crested mona monkey weighting 3.58 kilos (7.89 lbs) on average
- Short-eared possum weighting 3.13 kilos (6.9 lbs) on average
- Maned sloth weighting 4.47 kilos (9.85 lbs) on average
- Gray fox weighting 3.83 kilos (8.44 lbs) on average
- Hoary fox weighting 4.23 kilos (9.33 lbs) on average
- Short-eared rock-wallaby weighting 4.02 kilos (8.86 lbs) on average