The bumblebee bat, also known as Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, is the smallest known species of bat. Fragile in form and existence, there are serious fears that this teabag-sized treasure is in trouble, endangered with extinction and left with an uncertain future.<\/p>\n
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Measuring a minuscule 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) in length, bumblebee bats (Craseonycteris thonglongyai) are additionally the world’s smallest mammal in terms of body size (although the Etruscan shrew<\/a> is regarded as the smallest by body mass). Still, the bat only weighs in around 2 grams, about the weight of two paperclips.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bumblebee bats<\/a> are native to the limestone caves of the flood plains in western Thailand and southeast Myanmar in Southeast Asia. Armed with their distinctive pig-like noses, they leave their cavernous roosts at dawn and dusk, foraging the local area for flying insects using echolocation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although this part of the world is no stranger to bats<\/a> \u2013 Asia is home to over 400 species \u2013 this one stands alone. It is the sole surviving species of the entire Craseonycteridae\u00a0bat family, which split from the others around 33 million years ago.<\/p>\n Conservation of the bumblebee bat<\/p>\n There are reasons to be both pessimistic and optimistic about the species’ existence.\u00a0<\/p>\n First, the bad news: the Thai and Myanmar populations are small and isolated from one another. Genetic and echolocation studies<\/a> suggest the two groups rarely mix, which limits the exchange of genes between them. When populations become fragmented like this, the risk of inbreeding rises, reducing genetic diversity and leaving the species more vulnerable to disease, environmental changes, or other threats.<\/p>\n Additionally, there\u2019s the threat of human activity. A survey of their population<\/a> in 2007 noted that some of their habitats are cloaked with smoke and dust from nearby factories within the bats\u2019 foraging area.<\/p>\n