5.2b – Kitti’s Hog-Nosed Bat

Of all the microbats, this is the micro-est. (Photo by Jeffrey A. McNeeley)

Also known as the bumblebee bat, which is a lovely name, Kitti’s hog-nosed bat is not only the smallest bat in the world, it might even be the smallest mammal in the world, period.

Now, you might rightly ask how we can’t be sure about that, because as you know mammals are the best-studied group of animals anywhere, and all you have to do is hold them still long enough to shove a ruler in their face. The trick is that it depends on how you define “smallest”. Do you mean the mammal that weighs the least, or the mammal with the smallest physical dimensions? If you mean the former, then the Etruscan shrew is lighter in weight and mass. But if you mean the latter, then the bumblebee bat is the world’s smallest mammal. From head to toe it measures barely over an inch long; any smaller and it could roost in your nostrils.

It is the only member of its family, and is found in very small areas of Thailand and Burma in southeast Asia, where it lives in limestone caves, often near rivers. We don’t know precisely how many of them there are, but the general answer is “not many”, and they are considered to be at risk.

Those that are out there, however many that might be, like to stick together. These teensy tiny bats roost in groups of up to five hundred individuals per cave. One benefit of their size is that it does not take a very large cave to fit five hundred miniscule bats.

The bumblebee bat has no tail, and has a little pig-like nose. They fly much like any bat, but they aren’t very active. They only come out of their caves for brief periods twice a day, about 30 minutes in the evening and 20 minutes again at dawn, each time emerging for a quick snack like some sort of furtive nocturnal teenager who can’t break away from the video games for longer than it takes to scarf down a meal. Otherwise they rest, and they wait for another feeding time.

It’s not a very exciting lifestyle, but most animals don’t care about being bored as long as they are surviving. As it is, they make the most of their brief time outdoors, snatching little insects or spiders from leafs or right out of the air, twirling and fluttering through the night on tiny wings, smaller even than many butterflies.

This little bat was not discovered by science until 1974, which is common for species that only live in small areas of thick forest. Southeast Asia is one of the most ecologically rich areas of the world, and we are still today discovering new animals in those vast jungles.

2.10h – Big Bovid, Little Bovid

If you know very much about animals, you have likely heard about the aurochs, a species of cattle that went extinct in the 1600s. Some people believe that the aurochs was the biggest type of bovid in the world, but this is not the case. Even larger than the aurochs is a still-living member of the bovid family — the gaur of southern Asia.

An average person would not be as tall as this beast's shoulders. The gaur is one big hunk of animal. (Photo by Dinesh Kannambadi)

How big is the gaur? At its largest, it is about 11 feet long, seven feet tall at the shoulder, and can weigh as much as 3000 lbs, or sometimes even more. It is a hulking beast with an enormous body and massive, muscled shoulders.

The gaur is a mostly wild cattle species whose numbers have declined due to humans, and it is considered vulnerable. In nature, the gaur’s greatest enemy is the tiger, one of the only animals dangerous enough and brave enough to face down and kill a grown gaur. Gaur are wary of the tiger, and will group together to ward it away or sometimes to attack it. Tigers are occasionally killed by angry gaur.

As an interesting aside, the gaur was the first ever endangered species to be cloned. A male gaur was born via cloning through a surrogate domestic cow mother in early 2001. Unfortunately, the cloned gaur died within 48 hours of an unrelated disease.

The world’s smallest bovid is entirely on the opposite spectrum of the size category. It is the royal antelope of west Africa.

So tiny! (Photo by Mirko Raner)

How small is the royal antelope? It is typically less than a foot high at the shoulders and weighs a mere nine pounds. Royal antelope calves are so small, they can fit into a person’s open hand.

They are shy, nocturnal animals that live in dense forests, and are typically found alone or in pairs rather than in herds like many bovids. The gaur’s head is larger than the royal antelope’s entire body, and the smaller animal could fit inside the larger’s stomach with room to spare.

2.7d – Big Deer, Little Deer

Despite the fact that they are both within the same group of animals, the world’s largest deer is much, much more massive than the world’s smallest. The biggest of all the deer is, of course, the moose, known in Europe as an elk, and despite its secretive and solitary nature it can be one of the most fearsome animals one can encounter in the forest.

The moose is big. Real big. It also sports a very fashionable beard. (Photo by Donna Dewhurst)

Just how big is the moose? On average, a moose is six to seven feet high at the shoulder. The females weigh about 700 lbs, and the enormous males often weigh in at well over 1000 lbs. The largest type of moose, a sub-species that lives in Alaska, can reach as many as 1600 lbs. That, my friends, is one whopper of a deer. The moose has very long legs that help it move easily through deep snow in the winter.

The moose also possesses the largest antlers of any deer, and the most distinctive as well. The wide, broad antlers are known as palmate antlers, a botany term that means they radiate outward in a cupped fashion. This differs from other deer, whose antlers are called dendritic, which means that they are shaped like twigs.

To find a moose, you must travel to the boreal forest that runs in a band across Alaska, Canada, Scandanavia, and Russia, and then you must get lucky. Moose are very careful, solitary creatures, always travelling alone except for a mother with her calf. A mother moose can be extremely dangerous when protecting her calf, and will attack anything she deems to be a threat. An angry moose is never something to trifle with, as they can be fearless when provoked and nearly impossible to stop. More moose attacks on humans take place than attacks by bears and wolves combined, but a moose is typically seeking to chase its target away rather than to kill it.

Moose can also be found in the United States throughout the Rocky Mountains and in some small parts of the northern mid-west and New England. Strangely enough, the moose was at one point purposefully introduced to New Zealand, of all places. The last moose sighting there, however, took place in the 1950s, and no New Zealander has seen a moose since. However, shed antlers and hair samples found as recently as 2002 indicate that the moose are still out there in the wilds of the island. That is the best example you will find of how careful and hard to find a moose can be — even on an island, you can search for half a century and not find one.

On the other end of the spectrum is the positively diminutive pudu, of which there are two species living in South America. The smallest of the two, the Northern Pudu, is only 13 inches tall at the shoulder, is a mere 30 inches long, and weighs but 10 lbs. They grow tiny two-inch antlers and, as you may have figured out by now, are one of the cutest things on four legs.

How cute? THIS cute. (Photo by Jamie E. Jiminez)

The pudu lives on the slopes of the towering Andes Mountains and in dense rainforests nearby, and is known as the Chilean mountain goat. It does look something like a small goat, but it is very clearly a deer, and it sheds its tiny antlers every year.

Despite the difference in size, the pudu and the moose share their solitary, secretive nature, and consequently there is not a great deal that is known about the pudu’s natural behaviour in the wild. It is adept at fleeing from danger and moves about very carefully, stopping to smell the air at all possible intervals. Because of this cautious nature, it is rumoured that a pudu will die from a heart attack if you surprise it. This is not however strictly true.

Both species of pudu are classified as vulnerable due to loss of habitat through rainforest destruction, human hunting, and a number of diseases passed on to the animal through other introduced species, such as dogs. It also faces unfair competition for resources, thanks to humans introducing the red deer (an elk-like animal) to Argentina.

2.1e – Big Pig, Little Pig

There are pigs of all sizes in them there hills. The world’s biggest wild pig is the Giant Forest Hog, which is a native of woodsy habitats in west and central Africa. Despite their immense size, which would seem to make them a target of hunting, they are widespread and their population is in no danger. But just how big are they?

Fact: a giant forest hog's grunts cause small earthquakes. (Photo by Michell Zappa)

The giant forest hog is up to seven feet long from rump to snout, and stands nearly four feet high, so look at the picture above and remember that it is larger than most basketball players. It can weigh as many as 600 lbs, which I know from personal experience is more bacon than a person can eat in one sitting. (Barely.)

The world’s smallest pig is the appropriately named Pygmy Hog. It is incredibly endangered, and was once thought to be all but lost to the world. Today there are only 150 individuals remaining, and their future prospects only exist at all thanks to conservation efforts such as those by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and its partners. These pigs were once found throughout India, Nepal, and Bhutan, but now live in only one tiny part of India, their habitat being destroyed by human encroachment and controlled fire programs. But just how little are they?

Pygmy hogs are so small that they are the only pigs to build full-fledged nests. Aww. (Photo by Kalyan Varma)

The pygmy hog is only about two feet long, and less than a foot tall. They often weigh fewer than 20 lbs. No bacon joke for these poor, rare fellows.