What is the maximal age a Norway lemming reaches?
An adult Norway lemming (Lemmus lemmus) usually gets as old as 2 years.
Norway lemmings are around 20 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 3 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 4 cm (0′ 2″). As a member of the Muridae family (genus: Lemmus), a Norway lemming caries out around 5 little ones per pregnancy, which happens around 3 times a year. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 7.5 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 Norway lemming, also Norwegian lemming (Lemmus lemmus) is a common species of lemming found in northern Fennoscandia. It is the only vertebrate species endemic to the region. The Norway lemming dwells in tundra and fells, and prefers to live near water. Adults feed primarily on sedges, grasses and moss. They are active at both day and night, alternating naps with periods of activity.
Animals of the same family as a Norway lemming
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Muridae):
- Oecomys flavicans bringing the scale to 73 grams
- Long-tailed Talaud mosaic-tailed rat getting as big as 15.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Sulawesi giant rat bringing the scale to 325 grams
- Red-nosed mouse with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Handleyomys alfaroi with 3 babies per pregnancy
- Large-toothed hairy-tailed rat getting as big as 19.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Fraternal hill rat bringing the scale to 130 grams
- Thomas’s mosaic-tailed rat with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Lowland mosaic-tailed rat with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Ural field mouse with 5 babies per pregnancy
Animals that reach the same age as Norway lemming
With an average age of 2 years, Norway lemming are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Fawn antechinus usually reaching 2.25 years
- Tundra vole usually reaching 1.75 years
- Eastern harvest mouse usually reaching 2.17 years
- Cinnamon antechinus usually reaching 2 years
- Merriam’s kangaroo rat usually reaching 2 years
- Panamanian spiny pocket mouse usually reaching 1.75 years
- Feather-tailed possum usually reaching 2 years
- Heermann’s kangaroo rat usually reaching 2.33 years
- Slender-tailed dunnart usually reaching 2 years
- Southern Plains woodrat usually reaching 2.25 years
Animals with the same number of babies Norway lemming
The same number of babies at once (5) are born by:
- Western quoll
- Daurian pika
- Fringe-tailed gerbil
- Siberian large-toothed shrew
- Townsend’s vole
- Southern white-breasted hedgehog
- Mearns’s pouched mouse
- Large vesper mouse
- Yellow-necked mouse
- Alpine shrew
Weighting as much as Norway lemming
A fully grown Norway lemming reaches around 67 grams (0.15 lbs). So do these animals:
- Mountain spiny pocket mouse with 74 grams
- Reddish-gray mouse lemur with 70 grams
- Beady-eyed mouse with 77 grams
- Ashy-bellied Oldfield mouse with 77 grams
- Togo mouse with 55 grams
- Oecomys phaeotis with 73 grams
- Diminutive woodrat with 80 grams
- Unicolored Oldfield mouse with 77 grams
- Horsfield’s fruit bat with 55 grams
- Moncton’s mosaic-tailed rat with 80 grams