What is the maximal age a Silky anteater reaches?
An adult Silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) usually gets as old as 2.25 years.
Silky anteaters are around 160 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 275 grams (0.61 lbs) and measure 1.9 cm (0′ 1″). As a member of the Myrmecophagidae family (genus: Cyclopes), their offspring is 1 babies per pregnancy. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 17.7 cm (0′ 7″).
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 silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus), also known as the pygmy anteater, is a species of anteater in the genus Cyclopes, the only living genus in the family Cyclopedidae. It is found in southern Mexico, and Central and South America. A taxonomic review in 2017, including both molecular and morphological evidence, found that Cyclopes may comprise not one species (C. didactylus), as previously thought, but at least seven. The only known extinct cyclopedid species, Palaeomyrmidon incomtus, from the Late Miocene (c. 7 to 9 million years ago) of modern-day Argentina, is thought to share common ancestry with Cyclopes. It is the smallest of all known anteaters, has nocturnal habits and appears to be completely arboreal. Its hind feet are highly modified for climbing.
Animals of the same family as a Silky anteater
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Myrmecophagidae):
- Southern tamandua becoming 9 years old
- Northern tamandua becoming 9.5 years old
- Giant anteater becoming 26 years old
Animals that reach the same age as Silky anteater
With an average age of 2.25 years, Silky anteater are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Norway lemming usually reaching 2 years
- Laxmann’s shrew usually reaching 2 years
- Long-tailed pocket mouse usually reaching 2.5 years
- Vagrant shrew usually reaching 2.08 years
- Swamp antechinus usually reaching 2 years
- Robinson’s mouse opossum usually reaching 2 years
- Mediterranean water shrew usually reaching 2 years
- Eurasian pygmy shrew usually reaching 2 years
- McIlhenny’s four-eyed opossum usually reaching 2.25 years
- Salt marsh harvest mouse usually reaching 2.58 years
Animals with the same number of babies Silky anteater
The same number of babies at once (1) are born by:
- Grey seal
- Northern viscacha
- Javan rhinoceros
- Round-eared tube-nosed bat
- Brazilian shrew mouse
- Nubian ibex
- Nabarlek
- Fea’s muntjac
- Mexican free-tailed bat
- Least horseshoe bat
Weighting as much as Silky anteater
A fully grown Silky anteater reaches around 259 grams (0.57 lbs). So do these animals:
- Simons’s spiny rat with 285 grams
- Drab Atlantic tree-rat with 260 grams
- Boyacá spiny rat with 284 grams
- Bioko Allen’s bushbaby with 268 grams
- Philippine forest rat with 253 grams
- Washington ground squirrel with 215 grams
- Halmahera naked-backed fruit bat with 218 grams
- Lowland ringtail possum with 300 grams
- Douglas squirrel with 225 grams
- Black-shouldered opossum with 258 grams
Animals as big as a Silky anteater
Those animals grow as big as a Silky anteater:
- Phillips’s gerbil with 14.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- New Guinean rat with 17.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Hairy-tailed bolo mouse with 14.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Rough-haired golden mole with 15 cm (0′ 6″)
- Temotu flying fox with 17.5 cm (0′ 7″)
- Oldfield white-bellied rat with 14.3 cm (0′ 6″)
- Lesser flying fox with 19 cm (0′ 8″)
- Bougainville mosaic-tailed rat with 14.6 cm (0′ 6″)
- Mindoro black rat with 19 cm (0′ 8″)
- Palawan montane squirrel with 21 cm (0′ 9″)