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Animal Age

How old does a White-tailed rat get? (age expectancy)

What is the maximal age a White-tailed rat reaches?

An adult White-tailed rat (Mystromys albicaudatus) usually gets as old as 6 years.

White-tailed rats are around 37 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 6 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 5.3 cm (0′ 3″). As a member of the Muridae family (genus: Mystromys), their offspring is 3 babies per pregnancy. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 1.12 meter (3′ 9″).

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 white-tailed rat (Mystromys albicaudatus) also known as the white-tailed mouse, is the only member of the subfamily Mystromyinae in the family Nesomyidae. This species is sometimes placed in the subfamily Cricetinae due to similarities in appearance between the white-tailed rat and hamsters, but molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed that the two groups are not closely related. The subfamily Mystromyinae is sometimes placed within the family Muridae along with all other subfamilies of muroids.The white-tailed rat is restricted to shrubby areas and grasslands of South Africa and Lesotho. This is an uncommon species, and populations are thought to be declining because of conversion of scrubland to pasture. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as being an “endangered species”.

Animals of the same family as a White-tailed rat

Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Muridae):

Animals that reach the same age as White-tailed rat

With an average age of 6 years, White-tailed rat are in good companionship of the following animals:

Animals with the same number of babies White-tailed rat

The same number of babies at once (3) are born by:

Weighting as much as White-tailed rat

A fully grown White-tailed rat reaches around 86 grams (0.19 lbs). So do these animals: