About
The bumblebee bat is the smallest mammal in the world! This tiny bat weighs less than 2 grams, its body is about the size of a large bumblebee, giving it the common name “bumblebee bat”.
Also known as the Hog-nosed bat, or Kitti’s Hog-nosed Bat, this is the only living species in the family Craseonycteridae where it thought to have last shared a common ancestor over 40 million years ago.
The bumblebee bat hunt insects using echolocation, emitting squeaking sounds that echo, giving the bat an accurate location of the prey. This species roosts in limestone caves with average group size of 100, although up to 500 has been observed.
The main threat to this species is disturbance by humans, either by religious visits or tourism. There is also a potential threat from fertiliser collection and extraction of limestone from their roosts.
- Order: Chiroptera
- Family: Craseonycteridae
- Population: 6600
- Trend: decreasing
- Size: 29-33mm (?)
- Weight: Up to 2g
EDGE Score
Distribution
This species occurs in 35 caves in Thailand and 8 in Myanmar
Habitat and Ecology
The Bumblebee Bat is always associated with limestone outcrops near rivers and it always roosts in caves. It feeds on insects and its foraging range is limited to an area of 1km from the roost site. Females give birth to a single offspring in the dry season.
