The title is disputed by two really tiny animals: a bat called kitti and a rodent, the pygmy shrew. “Both weigh, on average, just 2 grams”, says zoologist Mário de Vivo, from USP. The kitti (Craseonycteris thonglongyai) – nicknamed the pig-snout bat because of its pointed nose – measures between 2.9 and 3.3 centimeters and was only discovered in 1974, in the caves of the River Kwai valley, in Thailand. The pygmy shrew (Suncus etruscus) is found in Africa and Mediterranean Europe. The smallest specimen ever seen measured 3.5 centimeters from head to the beginning of the tail – the tail was another 2.5 centimeters. At birth, the young are smaller than a bee, but become independent in less than a month. Thanks to its 30 sharp teeth and its huge appetite, the shrew is able to devour the equivalent of its own body weight every three hours (on the menu: spiders, worms and insects such as crickets and grasshoppers). The little bug is so fast that its heart beats 1 200 times per minute!
