Wild Fact #460 – Little Bat, Big Problems – Bumblebee Bat
Photo from http://www.edgeofexistence.org/edgeblog/?p=854
YAY….It’s Monday! What do you mean you are not excited for the start of another work week? But, this means that you get your daily fix of Wild Facts again. Since I know Monday’s can be tough, I picked an incredible animal to help ease you back into the workweek. If nothing else the Bumblebee Bat should at least distract you for the next minute or so. So what makes this animal so cool? Well, for starters, it just happens to be the smallest mammal on earth. This means you will need to keep your eyes peeled during our trip to Thailand to find this exotic little bat.
Before I tell you the size of this incredibly small mammal, I want to confirm that, yes, bats are mammals. They are warm blooded, nurse their offspring with milk and have fur, which are the typical requirements to be a mammal. Okay, now that we got that cleared up, let’s find out how small the Worlds Smallest Mammal is. Are you sitting down? The Bumblebee Bat is a whopping 29 to 33 mm (1.1 to 1.3 inches) in length. Go ahead and measure out an inch with your fingers and remember that this isn’t an insect… it is a mammal just like you and I. Pretty crazy when you think about it, isn’t it?
Photo from http://angela-michelle.hubpages.com/hub/Worlds-Smallest-Animals
So is there anything else interesting about the Worlds Smallest Mammal? Well, they have a pig-like nose, small eyes and relatively large ears (for their size). Unfortunately, it is believed that the Bumblebee Bat only has about 4000 individuals remaining in the wild, which puts them on the Endangered Species list. Maybe I am just an optimist but I am hoping there is a large group of these small mammals hiding out somewhere and we just haven’t spotted them yet.
Since they are a bat, they are capable of snatching up insects in mid-flight or alternatively they just pluck them off a flower while the insect is distracted. It is not known if the Bumblebee Bat has any natural predators. You would think that this little creature would make a great hors d’oeuvre for some wild animal out there. As far as we know, humans are their biggest threat but not because we like to snack on them. Instead, we like to burn their forests near their caves every year. Imagine that, habitat destruction is causing an animal to go endangered…..I think I have seen this trend before.
Well that does it for the Worlds Smallest Mammal. Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your Monday. See you tomorrow.
