Bumblebee Bat and other Small Mammals

Bumblebee Bat 

(only new drawing in this post)

The Bumblebee Bat is the smallest mammal in the world.  That title kind of depends on how you define size.  The Bumblebee Bat is only 1 1/8 to 1 3/8 long.  It weighs only .071 ounces or a mass of 2 grams.  That is about the mass of two paperclips.   It really could fit on a finger like this drawing shows.  It lives in Thailand and Myomar where it lives in limestone caves near rivers.  It also is called Kitti;s Hog Nose Bat because it has a snout like a pig. . . a very tiny pig.  

Kitti's Hog Nose Bat feeds on insects and arachnids a few hours near dawn and dusk.  This includes beetles, spiders, bark lice, small flies and wasps.  It finds prey via echolocation.  It emits a high pitched sound and finds the prey by the sound bouncing off.  Those big ears are like radar antennae, only for receiving sound not radio waves.  

The habitat of the Bumblebee Bat is threatened by human development.  The bats live in colonies of only about 100 individuals and they only breed once a year and the female or mother produces only one pup with each pregnancy.  So they can not rebound like a species that produces more young more often like a field mouse or a kangaroo rat.  

Kangaroo Rat realistic

Kangaroo Rat in Desert

Coral Pink Sand Dunes Plants and Animals

(Pinyon Mouse and Antelope Squirrel)

Coral Pink Sand Dunes Plants and Animals 2

(A common Grey Fox with a Kangaroo Rat booking it for cover)

Bunny under a Bush

African Elephant on the Serengeti
(I know.  This is a huge mammal. . .NOT a small mammal. . . but compare it to the Bumblebee Bat.  It would take 2.929,577 million Bumblebee Bats to weigh as much as ONE African Elephant.)

Indricotherium

(OK, I know, I know, again, this is not a small mammal.  In fact THIS is the BIGGEST land mammal to ever live.  I thought I would also add it here to show the contrast between a Bumblebee Bat . . . that shows how small land mammals can be. . . and this huge animal that was.  Indricotherium could be 16 1/2 feet or 5 meters tall.  It weighed around 30 tons.
 Compare that to the .071 ounce or 2 gram Bumblebee Bat.
 It would take 13,521,127 Bumblebee Bats to weigh as much as ONE Indricotherium did.)

Sperm Whale vs Giant Squid

(Of course the whales or Cetaceans are are even bigger.  The sperm whale isn't even the biggest whale, but it is still 67 feet or 20.5 meters long and weighing up to 63 tons.  So think about this:  It would take 28,394,366 Bumblebee Bats to weigh as much as ONE Sperm Whale.)  

NOTE:  All these animal drawings are found in printable form by clicking on the top buttons.  Either click on Animals  . . . or . . . All Printables.  The new drawing, of the Bumblebee Bat,  will be at the  bottom of the list.