How big does a Mitchell’s hopping mouse get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Mitchell’s hopping mouse (Notomys mitchellii) reaches an average size of 11.3 cm (0′ 5″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). A full-grown exemplary reaches roughly 42 grams (0.09 lbs). A Mitchell’s hopping mouse has 3 babies at once. The Mitchell’s hopping mouse (genus: Notomys) is a member of the family Muridae.
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.
Mitchell’s hopping mouse (Notomys mitchellii) is the largest extant member of the genus Notomys, weighing between 40 and 60 g (1.4 and 2.1 oz). N. mitchellii is a bipedal rodent with large back legs, similar to a jerboa or kangaroo rat. The species occurs throughout much of semi-arid Southern Australia, and appears to be particularly common on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Typical habitat for N. mitchellii appears to be mallee shrublands on sandy dune systems. The species is currently considered to be unthreatened, but its range has been reduced through habitat disturbance and destruction associated with European settlement in Australia.Individuals are a sandy grey colour, with white chest hairs and a paler underbelly. The tail of the species is long and has the characteristic hopping mouse brush at the tip. This tail morphology is thought to aid balance when travelling at speed. Being nocturnal, Notomys mitchellii shelters during the day in typical hopping mouse burrows; a small number of interconnected, vertical shafts, burrowing deep into the dune. Up to eight animals, different ages and sex, have been found in a single burrow.N. mitchellii is known to have a lifespan of up to five years in the laboratory and this is thought to be a strategy evolved to combat the breeding-constraints of lengthy periods of drought. It has also been found that this species is less able to cope with water deprivation than other species of the genus. Notomys mitchellii produces concentrated urine to conserve water, but in a different way to more arid-dwelling rodents. The diet of N. mitchellii is also thought to consist of more roots and green matter than that of other species of the genus: animals captured in drought conditions had stomach contents consisting of some 85% roots, 11% green leaf and 4% seed.
Animals of the same family as a Mitchell’s hopping mouse
We found other animals of the Muridae family:
- Moncton’s mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 14.7 cm (0′ 6″)
- Field vole with 4 babies per litter
- Brazilian arboreal mouse with a weight of 21 grams
- Kemp’s gerbil with 4 babies per litter
- Black-clawed brush-furred rat with a weight of 10 grams
- Anderson’s gerbil with a weight of 31 grams
- Polynesian rat with a size of 11.9 cm (0′ 5″)
- Red-bellied mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 14.3 cm (0′ 6″)
- Mountain spiny rat with a size of 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Small pencil-tailed tree mouse with a size of 9.4 cm (0′ 4″)
Animals with the same size as a Mitchell’s hopping mouse
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Mitchell’s hopping mouse:
- Southern red-backed vole with a size of 10.1 cm (0′ 4″)
- Mexican volcano mouse with a size of 11.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Pteropus brunneus with a size of 11.7 cm (0′ 5″)
- Sclater’s golden mole with a size of 10 cm (0′ 4″)
- Taiwan field mouse with a size of 9.1 cm (0′ 4″)
- Champion’s tree mouse with a size of 12.1 cm (0′ 5″)
- Akodon spegazzinii with a size of 9.9 cm (0′ 4″)
- Mindanao montane forest mouse with a size of 10.9 cm (0′ 5″)
- Soft-furred Oldfield mouse with a size of 11.2 cm (0′ 5″)
- Northern red-sided opossum with a size of 13.5 cm (0′ 6″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Mitchell’s hopping mouse
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (3) as a Mitchell’s hopping mouse:
- Grizzled giant squirrel
- Reddish-gray musk shrew
- Xerus erythropus
- Numbat
- Geoxus valdivianus
- Asian palm civet
- Père David’s mole
- Broad-striped dasyure
- Yucatan deer mouse
- Little native mouse
Animals with the same weight as a Mitchell’s hopping mouse
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Notomys mitchellii:
- Buenos Aires leaf-eared mouse bringing 42 grams to the scale
- Mount Apo forest mouse bringing 34 grams to the scale
- Tullberg’s soft-furred mouse bringing 37 grams to the scale
- Ruwenzori thicket rat bringing 41 grams to the scale
- Darwin’s leaf-eared mouse bringing 49 grams to the scale
- Merriam’s kangaroo rat bringing 37 grams to the scale
- Aratathomas’s yellow-shouldered bat bringing 49 grams to the scale
- Cape elephant shrew bringing 49 grams to the scale
- Flat-faced fruit-eating bat bringing 47 grams to the scale
- Woodland thicket rat bringing 42 grams to the scale