What is the maximal age a North American least shrew reaches?
An adult North American least shrew (Cryptotis parva) usually gets as old as 1.75 years.
North American least shrews are around 21 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 99 grams (0.22 lbs) and measure 1.9 cm (0′ 1″). As a member of the Soricidae family (genus: Cryptotis), a North American least shrew caries out around 4 little ones per pregnancy, which happens around 2 times a year. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 6.8 cm (0′ 3″).
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 North American least shrew (Cryptotis parva) is one of the smallest mammals, growing to be only up to 3 inches long. It has a long pointed snout and a tail never more than twice the length of its hind foot. The dense fur coat is either grayish-brown or reddish-brown with a white belly. Its fur becomes lighter in the summer and darker in the winter. Although similar in appearance to several species of rodents, all shrews are members of the order Soricomorpha and should not be mistaken for a member of the Rodentia order. The North American least shrew’s eyes are small and its ears are completely concealed within its short fur, giving it very poor eyesight and hearing.
Animals of the same family as a North American least shrew
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Soricidae):
- Remy’s pygmy shrew bringing the scale to 4 grams
- Dsinezumi shrew with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Hodgson’s brown-toothed shrew with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Large-toothed shrew bringing the scale to 8 grams
- African black shrew with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Saharan shrew bringing the scale to 6 grams
- Preble’s shrew bringing the scale to 3 grams
- Savanna path shrew with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Goodwin’s broad-clawed shrew bringing the scale to 7 grams
- Mediterranean water shrew becoming 2 years old
Animals that reach the same age as North American least shrew
With an average age of 1.75 years, North American least shrew are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Delany’s mouse usually reaching 2 years
- Trowbridge’s shrew usually reaching 1.5 years
- Southern red-backed vole usually reaching 1.67 years
- Müller’s giant Sunda rat usually reaching 2 years
- Swamp antechinus usually reaching 2 years
- Atlantic bamboo rat usually reaching 1.58 years
- Vagrant shrew usually reaching 2.08 years
- Mongolian gerbil usually reaching 2 years
- Grant’s golden mole usually reaching 2 years
- Mediterranean water shrew usually reaching 2 years
Animals with the same number of babies North American least shrew
The same number of babies at once (4) are born by:
- Southern big-eared mouse
- Bare-tailed woolly opossum
- Giant naked-tailed rat
- Allen’s chipmunk
- Hooded skunk
- Spinifex hopping mouse
- Hairy-tailed bolo mouse
- Himalayan shrew
- Pale fox
- Tarbagan marmot
Weighting as much as North American least shrew
A fully grown North American least shrew reaches around 4 grams (0.01 lbs). So do these animals:
- Wall-roosting mouse-eared bat with 4 grams
- Percival’s trident bat with 4 grams
- Indian pipistrelle with 4 grams
- Kerivoula hardwickei with 4 grams
- Delany’s mouse with 4 grams
- Peters’s sheath-tailed bat with 4 grams
- Flute-nosed bat with 4 grams
- Brown tube-nosed bat with 4 grams
- Crawford’s gray shrew with 4 grams
- Saussure’s shrew with 4 grams
Animals as big as a North American least shrew
Those animals grow as big as a North American least shrew:
- Red fruit bat with 6.1 cm (0′ 3″)
- Large-eared tenrec with 7.1 cm (0′ 3″)
- Natal multimammate mouse with 6 cm (0′ 3″)
- Pale shrew tenrec with 7.2 cm (0′ 3″)
- Taiwanese brown-toothed shrew with 6.7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Alpine shrew with 6.7 cm (0′ 3″)
- Waterhouse’s leaf-nosed bat with 6.1 cm (0′ 3″)
- True’s shrew mole with 6.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Winter white dwarf hamster with 7.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Eurasian water shrew with 8.1 cm (0′ 4″)