How big does a Mexican prairie dog get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Mexican prairie dog (Cynomys mexicanus) reaches an average size of 34.2 cm (1′ 2″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). A full-grown exemplary reaches roughly 900 grams (1.98 lbs). Talking about reproduction, Mexican prairie dogs have 4 babies about 1 times per year. The Mexican prairie dog (genus: Cynomys) is a member of the family Sciuridae.
As a reference: Humans reach an average body size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) while carrying 62 kg (137 lbs). A human woman is pregnant for 280 days (40 weeks) and on average become 75 years old.
The Mexican prairie dog (Cynomys mexicanus) is a diurnal burrowing rodent native to Mexico. Treatment as an agricultural pest has led to its status as an endangered species. They are closely related to squirrels, chipmunks, and marmots. Cynomys mexicanus originated about 230,000 years ago from a peripherally isolated population of the more widespread Cynomys ludovicianus.
Animals of the same family as a Mexican prairie dog
We found other animals of the Sciuridae family:
- Eastern gray squirrel with a size of 25.4 cm (0′ 10″)
- Woolly flying squirrel with a size of 45.9 cm (1′ 7″)
- Speckled ground squirrel with 5 babies per litter
- Asia Minor ground squirrel with 5 babies per litter
- Northern palm squirrel with 2 babies per litter
- Philippine tree squirrel with a size of 21 cm (0′ 9″)
- African pygmy squirrel with a size of 6.9 cm (0′ 3″)
- Merriam’s chipmunk with a size of 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Eastern chipmunk with a size of 14.6 cm (0′ 6″)
- Sculptor squirrel with a size of 12 cm (0′ 5″)
Animals with the same size as a Mexican prairie dog
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Mexican prairie dog:
- Giant bushy-tailed cloud rat with a size of 37.1 cm (1′ 3″)
- Small-toothed sportive lemur with a size of 32.4 cm (1′ 1″)
- Northern viscacha with a size of 34.2 cm (1′ 2″)
- Black dwarf porcupine with a size of 35.2 cm (1′ 2″)
- Yarkand hare with a size of 39 cm (1′ 4″)
- Chinese pangolin with a size of 37.9 cm (1′ 3″)
- Sunda slow loris with a size of 30 cm (1′ 0″)
- Collared titi with a size of 29.4 cm (1′ 0″)
- Jamaican coney with a size of 37.8 cm (1′ 3″)
- Sunda flying lemur with a size of 38 cm (1′ 3″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Mexican prairie dog
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (4) as a Mexican prairie dog:
- Montane wood mouse
- Bush rat
- European mink
- Panamint chipmunk
- Giant forest hog
- Sierra Madre ground squirrel
- Gerbil mouse
- Bushveld gerbil
- Hairy-tailed bolo mouse
- Caucasian squirrel
Animals with the same weight as a Mexican prairie dog
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Cynomys mexicanus:
- White-tailed prairie dog bringing 964 grams to the scale
- Gray-bellied night monkey bringing 873 grams to the scale
- Ring-tailed vontsira bringing 815 grams to the scale
- Long-nosed short-tailed opossum bringing 765 grams to the scale
- Cape dune mole-rat bringing 804 grams to the scale
- Three-striped night monkey bringing 912 grams to the scale
- Moluccan flying fox bringing 728 grams to the scale
- Mottle-faced tamarin bringing 803 grams to the scale
- Poncelet’s giant rat with a weight of 1 kilos (2.2 lbs)
- Livingstone’s fruit bat bringing 733 grams to the scale