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In this article the growth curves of individual animals for various species were examined to determine the relationship between birth weight and mature size. For the genotypes studied, the birth weight fraction of maturity (F b ) was found to range from approximately 0.6% to approximately 10% of mature size. Generally, for most species in this study it was found that F b increased as birth weight became larger and the female of the species generally demonstrated a larger fraction of maturity at birth than did the male animals of the same breed. An equation was developed to predict F b for each genotype with varying degrees of success. Using the developed equation and the birth weight of an individual animal, a physiologically based estimate of the animals mature size can be obtained.