"years ago (Mya) the clades diverged into newer clades. The lesser apes are the gibbon family, Hylobatidae, of sixteen species; all are native to Asia. Their major differentiating characteristic is their long arms, which they use to brachiate through trees. Their wrists are ball and socket joints as an evolutionary adaptation to their arboreal lifestyle. Generally smaller than the African apes, the largest gibbon, the siamang, weighs up to ; in comparison, the smallest ""great ape"", the bonobo, is . Formerly, all the great apes except humans were classified as the family Pongidae, which conveniently provided for separating the human"
"indicated approximately how many million years ago (Mya) the clades diverged into newer clades. There are eight living species of great ape which are classified in four genera. The following classification is commonly accepted: In addition to the extant species and subspecies, archaeologists, paleontologists, and anthropologists have discovered and classified numerous extinct great ape species as below, based on the taxonomy shown. Family Hominidae The great apes are large, tailless primates, with the smallest living species being the bonobo at 30–40 kilograms in weight, and the largest being the eastern gorillas, with males weighing 140–180 kilograms. In all great apes,"
"to the US. A Yucatan miniature pig is the unofficial mascot of the Animal Rescue League of Boston. The world's smallest wild pig species is the long wild pygmy hog which lives in Assam, India. It is a critically endangered wild species, not appropriate for domestication. Miniature pig Miniature pig (also micro-pig, teacup pig, etc.) is a term that is used to refer to small breeds of domestic pig, such as Pot-bellied pigs, Göttingen minipigs, Juliana pigs, Choctaw Hogs, or Kunekune (and specimens derived by cross-breeding with these). Notable features of most miniature pigs distinguishing them from other pigs may"
"mass and drinks eight times its total body mass each day. Its nest is 3 cm across. The vulnerable Kitti's hog-nosed bat (""Craseonycteris thonglongyai""), also known as the bumblebee bat, from Thailand and Myanmar is the smallest mammal, at in length and in weight. The Etruscan shrew (""Suncus etruscus""), is the smallest mammal by mass, weighing only about on average. The bumblebee bat has a smaller skull size. The smallest mammal that ever lived, the shrew-like ""Batodonoides vanhouteni"", weighed only . The smallest member of the rodent order is the Baluchistan pygmy jerboa, with an average body length of only"
"tiny frog hopping around. ""P. amauensis"", attaining an average body size of only , is smaller than the previous record-holder as the world's smallest vertebrate, a species of cyprinid fish (""Paedocypris progenetica""; ) from Indonesia and a species of goby fish(""Schindleria brevipinguis""; ) from Australia . The frog lives on land and its life cycle does not include a tadpole stage. Instead, members of this species hatch as 'hoppers': miniatures of the adults. The skeleton is reduced and there are only seven presacral vertebrae present. They are capable of jumping thirty times their body length. The frog is crepuscular and"
"Paedophryne amauensis The Paedophryne amauensis is a species of frog from Papua New Guinea. At in length, it is considered the world's smallest known vertebrate, and it is the smallest frog in the Southern Hemisphere. The species was listed in the ""Top 10 New Species 2013"" by the International Institute for Species Exploration for discoveries made during 2012. The list was announced on 22 May 2013. The frog species was discovered in August 2009 by Louisiana State University herpetologist Christopher Austin and his PhD student Eric Rittmeyer while on an expedition to explore the biodiversity of Papua New Guinea. The"
"chameleons (""B. minima""), 14–19 millimetres for male Mount d'Ambre leaf chameleons (""B. tuberculata"") and 15–16 millimetres for male ""B. micra"", though females are larger. Of the aforementioned geckos, ""S. ariasae"" was first described in 2001 by the biologists Blair Hedges and Richard Thomas. This dwarf gecko is endangered and lives in Jaragua National Park in the Dominican Republic and on Beata Island (""Isla Beata""), off the southern coast of Hispaniola in the Dominican Republic. The world's smallest turtle is the speckled padloper tortoise (""Homopus signatus"") from South Africa. The males measure , while females measure up to almost . The"
"that lives between sand grains on the coast of India. Its maximum length is only 4 mm. The smallest sea urchin, ""Echinocyamus scaber"", has a test only 6 mm across. ""Patiriella parvivipara"" is the smallest starfish, at only 5 mm across. The smallest vertebrates (and smallest amphibians) known are ""Paedophryne amauensis"" frogs from Papua New Guinea, which range in length from , and average . Previously, the title of smallest vertebrate was held by members of the fish genus ""Paedocypris"" of Indonesia. The one of world's smallest fish based on the minimum size at maturity is ""Paedocypris progenetica"" from Indonesia,"
"pygmy antelope (""N. batesi""). The latter two are closely related, while the royal antelope is likely to have had an ancestor in common with the klipspringer and duikers (subfamily Cephalophinae). The royal antelope is the smallest antelope in the world; it is the smallest ungulate and ruminant as well. Bates's pygmy antelope is only slightly larger. The royal antelope reaches merely at the shoulder and weighs . The head-and-body length is typically . A characteristic feature is the long and slender legs, with the hindlegs twice as long as the forelegs – a remarkable similarity to the hare. The thin"
"Royal antelope The royal antelope (""Neotragus pygmaeus"") is a West African antelope, recognised as the world's smallest antelope. It was first described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It stands up to merely at the shoulder and weighs . A characteristic feature is the long and slender legs, with the hindlegs twice as long as the forelegs. Horns are possessed only by males; the short, smooth, spiky horns measure and bend backward. The soft coat is reddish to golden brown, in sharp contrast with the white ventral parts. In comparison to Bates's pygmy antelope, the royal antelope has a"
"Least chipmunk The least chipmunk (""Neotamias minimus"") is the smallest species of chipmunk and the most widespread in North America. It is the smallest species of chipmunk, measuring about in total length with a weight of . The body is grey to reddish-brown on the sides, and greyish white on the underparts. The back is marked with five dark brown to black stripes separated by four white or cream-colored stripes, all of which run from the nape of the neck to the base of the tail. Two light and two dark stripes mark the face, running from the tip of"
"size and decreased in diversity, leaving only the modern subclass Lissamphibia. The three modern orders of amphibians are Anura (the frogs and toads), Urodela (the salamanders), and Apoda (the caecilians). The number of known amphibian species is approximately 7,000, of which nearly 90% are frogs. The smallest amphibian (and vertebrate) in the world is a frog from New Guinea (""Paedophryne amauensis"") with a length of just . The largest living amphibian is the Chinese giant salamander (""Andrias davidianus""), but this is dwarfed by the extinct ""Prionosuchus"" from the middle Permian of Brazil. The study of amphibians is called batrachology, while"
"smallest crocodilian is the Cuvier's dwarf caiman (""Paleosuchus palpebrosus"") from northern and central South America. It reaches up to in length. One of the smallest snakes known is the recently discovered Barbados threadsnake (""Leptotyphlops carlae""). Adults average about long, which is only about twice as long as the hatchlings. The Common blind snake(""Indotyphlops braminus"") measures long, uncommonly to long. The smallest known dinosaur (excluding modern birds) is ""Anchiornis"", a genus of feathered dinosaur that lived in what is now China during the Late Jurassic Period 160 to 155 million years ago. Adult specimens range from long, and the weight has"
"Pudú The pudús (Mapudungun ""püdü"" or ""püdu"", , ) are two species of South American deer from the genus Pudu, and are the world's smallest deer. The name is a loanword from Mapudungun, the language of the indigenous Mapuche people of central Chile and south-western Argentina. The two species of pudús are the northern pudú (""Pudu mephistophiles"") from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and the southern pudú (""Pudu puda""; sometimes incorrectly modified to ""Pudu pudu"") from southern Chile and south-western Argentina. Pudús range in size from tall, and up to long. As of 2009, the southern pudu is classified as"
"feeds on small invertebrates. Males call for mates with a series of very high-pitched insect-like peeps at a frequency of 8400–9400 Hz. Similar to all species of ""Paedophryne"" known so far, members of ""Paedophryne amauensis"" live in the leaf litter on the floors of tropical forests. Paedophryne amauensis The Paedophryne amauensis is a species of frog from Papua New Guinea. At in length, it is considered the world's smallest known vertebrate, and it is the smallest frog in the Southern Hemisphere. The species was listed in the ""Top 10 New Species 2013"" by the International Institute for Species Exploration for"
"Tasmanian pygmy possum The Tasmanian pygmy possum (""Cercartetus lepidus""), also known as the little pygmy possum, is the world's smallest possum. It was first described by Oldfield Thomas in 1888, after he identified that a museum specimen labelled as an eastern pygmy possum in fact represented a species then unknown to science. The holotype resides in the British Museum of Natural History. Although it is a marsupial, the Tasmanian pygmy possum superficially resembles a dormouse, and it is the smallest of all the known species of possum. Adults range from in head-body length, with a tail, and weigh just ."
"Least grebe The least grebe (""Tachybaptus dominicus""), an aquatic bird, is the smallest member of the grebe family. It occurs in the New World from the southwestern United States and Mexico to Chile and Argentina, and also on Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles. The least grebe ranges in length from (depending on the subspecies) and in weight from . Weights are variable based on region and subspecies, being smaller in Panama, where males weighed a mean of against the females and larger in the West Indies, where the sexes weigh a mean of and , respectively."
"Least bittern The least bittern (""Ixobrychus exilis"") is a small heron, the smallest member of the family Ardeidae found in the Americas. The least bittern is one of the smallest herons in the world, with perhaps only the dwarf bittern and the black-backed bittern averaging smaller in length. It can measure from in length, and the wingspan ranges from . Body mass is from , with most least bitterns weighing between , making this perhaps the lightest of all herons. A recent manual of avian body masses cites another species in this genus, the stripe-backed bittern, as having a mean"
"smallest reptile-like amphibians known, being a mere 20 cm in adult length. The small size has made it a key fossil in the search for the earliest amniote, as amniote eggs are thought to have evolved in very small animals. It shares many features with reptiles and other early amniotes rather than most amphibious tetrapods of its age. These include a lower number of ankle bones, no labyrinthodont infolding of the dentin, the lack of an otic notch, and a generally small skull. Many of these features are also present in lepospondyls. Ruta ""et al."" (2003) interpreted the long body"
"roam and discover these miniature primates in their natural habitats. The tarsier is the smallest living primate that exists in several South East Asian countries today. The Philippine tarsier, ""Tarsius syrichta"", locally known as ""mamag"" in Boholano is near to threatened according to the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. Adaptation to their large bulging eyes allows them to catch prey clearly at night, and with elongated limbs and fingers, leaping from tree to tree gives no limitation to the tarsier. Their brain is about the same size as their eyes. The connection between its eyes and brain serves a"
"cetacean) the bumblebee bat (arguably the world’s smallest mammal) and the egg-laying long-beaked echidnas are highly threatened yet remain poorly understood and are frequently overlooked by existing conservation frameworks. Recent research indicates that 70% of the world’s most threatened and evolutionarily distinct mammal species are currently receiving little or no conservation attention. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has launched a global conservation initiative, the EDGE of Existence Programme to raise awareness and funds for the conservation of these species. Some species are more distinct than others because they represent a larger amount of unique evolution. Species like the aardvark"
"was once pecked by a little penguin while on holiday in Australia. Reportedly, this encounter encouraged Torvalds to select Tux as the official Linux mascot. A Linux kernel programming challenge called the Eudyptula Challenge has attracted thousands of persons; its creator(s) use the name ""Little Penguin"". Penny the Little Penguin was the mascot for the 2007 FINA World Swimming Championships held in Melbourne, Victoria. Little penguin The little penguin (""Eudyptula minor"") is the smallest species of penguin. It grows to an average of in height and in length, though specific measurements vary by subspecies. It is found on the coastlines"
"Euryplatea nanaknihali Euryplatea nanaknihali is the world's smallest fly, measuring in size. Due to its small size, the viscosity of air is problematic for the insect, and even the smallest air currents are a large impediment. Scientists expressed amazement that such a tiny animal could still have all the organs of a normal insect. They are believed to lay their eggs in the heads of small ""Crematogaster"" ants. The larva consumes the interior of the ant's head, within whose exoskeleton it pupates, before emerging as an adult. The species has been found in a number of national parks in Thailand."
"Pygmy goose The pygmy geese are a group of very small ""perching ducks"" in the genus Nettapus which breed in the Old World tropics. They are the smallest of all wildfowl. As the ""perching ducks"" are a paraphyletic group, they need to be placed elsewhere. The initially assumed relationship with the dabbling duck subfamily Anatinae has been questioned, and it appears they form a lineage in an ancient Gondwanan radiation of waterfowl, within which they are of unclear affinities. An undescribed fossil species from the late Hemphillian (5.0–4.1 mya) of Jalisco, central Mexico, has also been identified from the distal"
"Bee hummingbird The bee hummingbird, zunzuncito or Helena hummingbird (""Mellisuga helenae"") is a species of hummingbird which is the world's smallest bird. It is endemic to Cuba and the Isle of Pines. The bee hummingbird is the smallest living bird. Females weigh and are long, and are slightly larger than males, with an average weight of and length of . As its name suggests, it is scarcely larger than a bee. Like all hummingbirds, it is a swift, strong flier. The male has a green pileum and fiery red throat, iridescent gorget with elongated lateral plumes, bluish upper parts, and"
"Lesser bamboo bat The lesser bamboo bat or lesser flat-headed bat (""Tylonycteris pachypus"") is one of the smallest species of vesper bat, and is native to Southeast Asia. The bat, the size of a bumble bee, is among the smallest mammals on earth, measuring about in head-body length with a tail about long and a wingspan of . Adults weigh between . The fur ranges from golden or cinnamon to dark brown, and is paler on the underside of the body. The head is flattened, with a short snout and triangular ears with a wide tragus. The name ""pachypus"" means"
"scientists to classify it as a haplorrhine and, therefore, more closely related to apes and monkeys than to the other prosimians. The smallest primate is the Madame Berthe's mouse lemur (""Microcebus berthae""), at around one third the weight of this species. The superlative 'smallest monkey' often refers to the pygmy marmoset (""Cebuella pygmaea""), an animal with a larger body size. The Philippine tarsier is considered to be the mammal with the biggest eyes, 16 mm across, in proportion to its body size. The Philippine tarsier was only introduced to Western biologists in the 18th century through the missionary J.G. Camel's"
". It is the smallest raptor in the Americas and one of the two smallest accipitrids in the world (besides the little sparrowhawk). The tiny hawk, another neotropical species, attains a slightly higher weight than the pearl kite. The adult has a black crown, upperparts, wing and tail, a rufous edged white collar, yellow forehead and cheeks, mainly white underparts, and yellow legs. Immature birds are similar to the adults but have white and chestnut tips to the back and wing feathers, a buff collar and some buff on the white underparts. In flight this species looks mainly black above"
"primary food source (flowers for nectar). Bee hummingbird The bee hummingbird, zunzuncito or Helena hummingbird (""Mellisuga helenae"") is a species of hummingbird which is the world's smallest bird. It is endemic to Cuba and the Isle of Pines. The bee hummingbird is the smallest living bird. Females weigh and are long, and are slightly larger than males, with an average weight of and length of . As its name suggests, it is scarcely larger than a bee. Like all hummingbirds, it is a swift, strong flier. The male has a green pileum and fiery red throat, iridescent gorget with elongated"
"African pygmy goose The African pygmy goose (""Nettapus auritus"") is a perching duck from sub-Saharan Africa. It is the smallest of Africa's wildfowl, and one of the smallest in the world. Though pygmy geese have beaks like those of geese, they are more related to the dabbling ducks and other species called 'ducks'. It is one of the species to which the ""Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds"" (AEWA) applies. The African pygmy goose was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his ""Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux"" in 1785. The bird was also illustrated"
"the smallest. They have smaller eye opening (around in diameter) compared to other voles that share the same geographic range (sympatric) or have adjacent ranges (parapatric). There are other distinguishing features of the roots and enamel of the molar teeth that help in differentiation. Unlike other voles in the range, only the creeping vole and the (much larger) water vole have five plantar tubercles on the hindfeet. They are pentadactyl, although the pollex is reduced in size and lack a claw. They walk with their feet planted firmly on the ground (plantigrade locomotion). The foot pads have a moderate amount"
"prevent them from spending too much time in unfamiliar places, and decrease predation. In some species, pregnant individuals may not use torpor. The smallest bat is Kitti's hog-nosed bat (""Craseonycteris thonglongyai""), which is long with a wingspan and weighs . It is also arguably the smallest extant species of mammal, next to the Etruscan shrew. The largest bats are a few species of ""Pteropus"" megabats and the giant golden-crowned flying fox, (""Acerodon jubatus""), which can weigh with a wingspan of . Larger bats tend to use lower frequencies and smaller bats higher for echolocation; high-frequency echolocation is better at detecting"
"Nabarlek The nabarlek (""Petrogale concinna""), also known as the pygmy rock-wallaby or the little rock-wallaby, is a very small species of macropod found in northern Australia. It was formerly considered distinct enough to be assigned its own genus, ""Peradorcas"", but it is now considered to belong, like the rest of the rock-wallabies, in the genus ""Petrogale"". The nabarlek was, until the discovery of the monjon (""Petrogale burbidgei"") in 1978, the smallest rock-wallaby. It is generally grey with rufous tinges and patches of black around its body, and is a nocturnal, semi-gregarious grazer of grasses and other vegetation. It is classified"