Our world is home to more than 1,200 species of bats. The smallest bats can only be found in a few caves in Thailand and Myanmar.

Bumblebee Bat – Kitti’s pig-nosed bat, also known as the Bumblebee Bat, is so small that it can fit comfortably on an average-sized human finger. Its size ranges from 29 to 33 mm, and it weighs only 2 grams. The wingspan of the Bumblebee bat is 170 mm.

This tiny species of bat is known to live in small colonies of 10 to 100 individuals. They are nocturnal hunters, using echolocation to hunt many different species of insects. The tiny bats only leave their nests for 30 minutes at night and 20 minutes at dawn.

Kitti’s pig-nosed bat is the only extant species in the family Craseonycteridae, classified in the superfamily Rhinolophoidea according to molecular testing results. Based on this determination, their closest relatives are members of the families Hipposideridae and Rhinopomatidae. Currently, the biggest and most lasting threat to this bat species in Thailand is the annual burning of forests by people, which occurs most commonly during the bat’s breeding season.