Slender Blind Snakes
The Slender Blind Snakes or Thread Snakes (Leptotyphlopidae) are a family of snakes thought to be the world’s smallest snakes at about 11cm in length. They are found in North and South America, Africa, and Asia. There are 87 different species of these snakes. They are adapted to burrowing, feeding on ants and termites. Their diet consists mostly of termites or ants, their larvae and pupae. Most species suck out the contents of insect bodies and discard the skin.
Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat
The Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai), or Bumblebee Bat from Thailand and Burma is the smallest bat, at 30–40mm in length and 1.5 to 2g in weight. It is about the same size as a bumblebee and has a distinctive pig-like snout, hence its different common names. It lives in limestone caves along rivers. Colonies range greatly in size, with an average of 100 individuals per cave. The bat feeds during short activity periods in the evening and dawn, foraging around nearby forest areas for insects. Females give birth annually to a single offspring. Although the bat's status in Burma is not well-known, the Thai population is restricted to a single province and may be at risk for extinction. Its potential threats are primarily anthropogenic, and include habitat degradation and the disturbance of roosting sites.
Etruscan shrew
The Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus), also known as the Etruscan Pygmy Shrew or the White-toothed Pygmy Shrew weighs only 1.2 to 2.7g so could be considered the world’s smallest mammal, although it is slightly longer than the Bumblebee Bat at 36 to 53mm from its head to the base of the tail. The Etruscan Shrew inhabits forests and brush areas between Southern Asia and Southern Europe. This shrew has a lifespan of 15 months. A forager, it subsists largely upon insects. It’s heart beats 14 times per second. The shrew's brain is the largest in ratio to its body weight of all animals, larger than even a human's.
Bee Hummingbird
The Bee Hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae) is the smallest bird and the smallest warm-blooded vertebrate.. It is also known as Cuban bee as it is found mostly in Cuba. It measures 5.7cm in length and 1.8g in weight. The Bee Hummingbird is said to eat half its total body mass and drink eight times its total body mass each day. We cannot see its wings while flying as it flaps its wings 90 times per second. The heartbeat of this bird is 1,260 times. The size of its nest measures 2cm wide and 3cm deep. Its eggs are smaller than coffee grounds.
Speckled Padloper Tortoise
The world's smallest turtle is the Speckled Padloper Tortoise (Homopus signatus) from South Africa. The males measure 6–8cm, while females measure up to almost 10cm.
