Smallest placental mammal baby relative to adult body size
- Who
- Ailuropoda melanoleuca, Giant panda
- What
- 1/900th total number
- Where
- China
- When
- 1500 BC
Relative to the adult's body size, the smallest baby produced by a placental mammal (any mammal other than a marsupial or an egg-laying monotreme) is that of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). A newborn individual is pink, hairless, blind, the size of a stick of butter, and only weighs 60–200 grams (2.1–7 ounces), which makes it just 1/900th the size of its mother or other adult giant pandas.
A 2006 study looking at 12 newborn panda cubs described a weight range of 54–216 grams (1.9–7.6 ounces) across its sample.