The world is a big place full of an array of weird and wonderful creatures all vying for survival. But sometimes it is not the biggest and strongest that lives the longest but rather the quickest and ones with most cunning.
Here we look at the smallest animals on the planet that are still going strong and are incredibly cute including this Kitti’s Hog-Nosed Bat. At just over an inch long with a 5-inch wingspan, it has the smallest skull of any mammal in the world.
Bee Hummingbird
Native to Cuba, this tiny bird lays the world’s smallest eggs and weighs about the same as a dime. Despite this, it doesn’t stop the diminutive beast being energetic as it flaps its wings at about 100x a minute.
Chihuahua
Largely recognized as the world’s smallest breed of dog, in 2013 there was one that stood at just 4 inches tall, making it the world’s smallest living dog at the time in 2013.
Pygmy Marmoset Monkey
Found in Brazil where they are known as ‘Pocket Monkeys’, these tiny tree climbers reach about 6 inches long excluding their tails.
Paedocypris Fish
Able to live in highly acidic water, these fish are commonly found in South East Asia and only grow to about 1/3 of an inch in length.
Brookesia Micra Chameleon
The smallest known breed of chameleon, this stunted reptile is so small because of insular dwarfism that has come from its isolation on the islet of Nosy Hara in Madagascar. It may soon become extinct due to illegal logging in the area.
Royal Antelope
It may have a grand name but it is actually the smallest of all antelopes. These shy creatures are nocturnal and only reach about 10 inches in height and ten pounds in weight. Surviving in the undergrowth of West Africa, their timidity is integral to their survival in a land full of big predators.
Virgin Island Dwarf Gecko
The smallest of Lizards and second smallest of vertebrates. It can fit on the head of a dime, even when fully grown.
Etruscan Shrew
The smallest mammal by mass, it is found across Eurasia and parts of Africa. With an incredibly fast heart rate of 1511 beats/min (25 beats/s), it needs to be constantly eating to survive.
Vaquita Porpoise
Vaquita literally translates as ‘little cow’ but these cetaceans look more like short, overweight dolphins than cows. Critically endangered they grow to 5 feet in length and weigh up to 100 pounds because they eat everything in sight.
Barbados Threadsnake
A teeny, tiny snake native to the Carribean island of Barbados, it is about the width of a spaghetti noodle and grows up to 4 inches in length.
Speckled Padloper Tortoise
A South African tortoise that lives in dry and arid deserts, these slow moving miniatures reach about 4 inches and are threatened by the pet trade as people take them out of their natural environment to keep at home.
Paedophryne Amauensis Frog
Only discovered in 2009, this frog is the world’s smallest vertebrate and lives on the leaf litter of the jungles of Papua New Guinea.
Denise’s Pygmy Seahorse
Found across the globe in places like Japan, Australia, Canada and Malaysia (to name a few), these sea creatures hid in amongst coral reefs and are about the size of a fingernail.
Pygmy Mouse Lemur
The smallest kind of lemur you’ll find, these compact critters are about 5 inches long and 2 pounds in weight found living in the deciduous forests of Madagascar.
Patu Digua Spider
If I were to put a period in the middle of this sentence that would be the size of a Patu Digua spider. O.5mm in length, these arachnids make their home in Colombia.
Musky Caiman Crocodile
A South American snapper, these are the smallest of all crocs, alligators and caimans as they only get to about 4 feet in length but they still have a nasty bite and razor sharp teeth to contend with.
Philippine Tarsier
Unable to move its eyes, this Tarsier has a neck that can rotate almost 180 degrees. The size of an average man’s hand, these are one of the smallest known primates on the planet.
Vechur Cow
Originally from India, the Vechur cow is not the lumbering farmyard animal you often see but rather a two feet tall, four feet long cow that is known for producing a lot of milk from relatively low grass consumption.
Monte Iberia Eleuth
Another small frog, in fact, the smallest in the Northern Hemisphere. Found in Cuba, it is a distant relative to the poison dart frog.