What is the smallest mammal?
The smallest mammal by weight is the Etruscan shrew, at about 1.8 grams. The bumblebee bat of Thailand and Myanmar is often called the smallest by size.
The Etruscan shrew lives in southern Europe, North Africa and Asia. It is about 4 centimeters long without its tail and weighs less than a paper clip. Its heart can beat more than 1,000 times a minute, and it must eat about twice its body weight in insects every day to survive.
Kitti's hog-nosed bat, also called the bumblebee bat, has a body about 3 centimeters long and weighs about 2 grams. It lives in limestone caves in western Thailand and southeastern Myanmar and feeds on small insects at dusk.
Small and fast
Tiny mammals lose body heat quickly because they have a large surface area compared with their volume. To stay warm, they need very fast metabolisms. Some shrews can starve within hours without food.
Did You Know?
The largest mammal, the blue whale, can weigh about 75 million times more than an Etruscan shrew.