Nature’s Little Marvels: The Smallest Animals and Their Unique Traits

What are the smallest animals in the world? Defining smallest is important before we determine which animals take the tiny cake. After all, single-celled organisms, which can only be seen with microscopes, are crawling over everything; however, we won’t focus on these today. For our smallest animals in the world list, we’re limiting it to animals viewable with unaided human eyes.

Here are some tiny creatures and what makes them so special.

Smallest Rabbit: Pygmy Rabbit

Pygmy rabbits spend their lives in and around sagebrush. Native to the western United States, these teeny hoppers — which only measure between 9.25 and 11.6 inches — are the world’s smallest leporid. The United States government lists pygmy rabbits as endangered, but the IUCN categorizes them under Least Concern.

Pygmy rabbits are native to the United States, and females of the species are slightly larger than males.

Smallest Shark: Dwarf Lantern Shark

Measuring in at only 8.3 inches long, dwarf lanterns are the smallest sharks in the world. Experts at camouflage, the pencil-sized swimmers can both glow like a sunray and melt into night shadows. They eat krill and females give birth to small litters every year. To see one in person, a trip to either Venezuela’s or Colombia’s coast is required.

Forty-five species of lantern sharks can be found in deep waters around the world.

Smallest Fish: Paedocypris

The smallest fish on the planet is a genus called Paedocypris. Individuals are smaller than a half-inch and live in the waters around Sumatra Island. Due to their size, Paedocypris are among the few aquatic animals that can persevere through extreme droughts.

The smallest known specimen was 0.3 inches, and the largest was only 0.41 inches.

Smallest Snake: Slender Blind Snakes

Found over a few square kilometers in Barbados and believed by scientists to be the world’s smallest snake, slender blinds only grow to about 4.1 inches long. Due to their thinness, the slithering Caribbean dwellers also go by threadsnakes or thread snakes.

The scientific name for the family of small slitherers is Leptotyphlopidae. Species survive on most continents, and they tend to congregate near ant and termite nests.

Smallest Monkey: Pygmy Marmosets

Pygmy marmosets live in South American forests and enjoy the distinction of being the world’s smallest monkey. Individuals are about the size of a human hand, 4.6 to 6.2 inches tall, and their big eyes and adorable noses can melt even the coldest heart.

Smallest Bird: Bee Hummingbird

What is the smallest bird in the world? Honors go to the bee hummingbird — also known as the zunzuncito and Helena hummingbird. The minuscule flyers flap their wings 200 times per minute, and the largest among them is about 2.2 inches and weighs roughly the same as a dime. Bee hummingbirds are endemic to Cuba and haven’t ventured far from the area for over millennia.

Smallest Mammal by Mass: Etruscan Shrew

Their bodies are only about 1.5 inches long, and their tails add 0.94 to 1.26 inches. The smallest known mammal by mass, Etruscan shrews weigh 0.063 ounces and can only be found in coastal Mediterranean locales and pockets of Southeast Asia. To keep up with their sky-high metabolism, the little critters eat about 25 times a day.

Incredibly, Etruscan shrews have a 1511-beats-per-minute resting heart rate. To put that in perspective, the human heart glugs along between 60 and 100 beats per minute on average.

Smallest Mammal by Length: Kitti’s Hog-Nosed Bat

In the limestone caves of Burma and Thailand live the world’s smallest mammals by length: Kitti’s hog-nosed bats. The average individual is between 1.1 and 1.3 inches. These Near-Threatened flying mammals are so compact their heads and bodies form one unit.

Smallest Reptile: Virgin Island Dwarf Sphaero

Scientists believe one of the smallest reptiles currently scurrying across the planet is the Virgin Island dwarf sphaero. Also known as the Virgin Gorda least gecko and Virgin Islands dwarf gecko, the endangered lizard has only been observed on the Virgin Gorda, Tortola, and Moskito Islands. From snout to vent, the Virgin Gorda measures 0.7 inches.

Smallest Frog: Monte Iberia Eleuth

The smallest frog in the Northern Hemisphere is the Monte Iberia Eleuth. At only 0.4 inches, they’re about half the size of your thumb! These skittish amphibians spend a lot of time hiding beneath vegetation and are quick to hop away from any perceived threat. They keep to themselves until mating time and communicate with a characteristically high-pitched sound.

Their striking yellow markings are meant to warn predators of their toxicity — Monte Iberia Eleuths produce pumiliotoxins which paralyze their predators’ muscles so that they can escape harm. Their diet consists of spiders, moths, and other insects like ants.

There are three other mini frog species, and scientists go back and forth about which wears the smallest crown.

And that’s our list of smallest animals in the world — the littlest marvels around!