Name a mammal smaller than a house cat - Krillion Answers 2026-10-20

6,515 recorded names on October 20, 2026, 6,298 at 85 or higher. The highest recorded score on this question is 100.

Aim for species-level names from the groups that pack the most tiny bodies per genus — the further you go down a field-guide index, the better the payoff. Any living mammal species whose adult body mass typically stays well under that of a domestic cat counts; single-word catch-all labels for whole groups score far less than a proper species name.

Recorded answers

6,515 recorded answers

How to approach it

Work from size classes instead of from memory of famous animals. Sketch the handful of mammalian orders in which adults commonly weigh under a few hundred grams, then walk each order's family list and pull one or two names per family. Field-guide indexes, national species checklists and museum collection catalogues are the richest sources, because they supply the long descriptive names that casual players never reach. Build a long list rather than a short one: quantity matters here, so aim for twenty or thirty candidates before you start judging them. Where a species has several common names, submit the most formal one. Finally, keep an eye on spelling, since hyphenated and transliterated forms are usually accepted.

Get a hint

Start from body mass rather than from familiarity: list the mammalian orders in which adults routinely weigh less than a few hundred grams, then work downward through them.

A little more

Harvest names from regional mammal checklists and museum species lists; long compound common names built from a place plus a body feature are a strong signal of a valid, rarely given entry.

One step further

Chase the oddities too: species known from a single mountain range, a cave survey or a recent taxonomic revision often carry the highest value, and hyphenated or transliterated forms are accepted.

Reveal answers 6,515

New Britain Water RatDeep Cut85points
New Caledonia Flying FoxDeep Cut85points
New Caledonia Long-tailed Fruit BatDeep Cut85points
New Caledonian Long-eared BatDeep Cut85points
New Caledonian Wattled BatDeep Cut85points
New England CottontailDeep Cut85points
New Georgia Blossom BatDeep Cut85points
New Georgia Monkey-faced Fruit BatDeep Cut85points
New Guinea Big-eared BatDeep Cut85points
New Guinea Broad-eared Horseshoe BatDeep Cut85points
New Guinea Free-tailed BatDeep Cut85points
New Guinea GliderDeep Cut85points
New Guinea Naked-backed Fruit BatDeep Cut85points
New Guinea PipistrelleDeep Cut85points
New Guinea QuollDeep Cut85points
New Guinea Sheath-tailed BatDeep Cut85points
New Guinea Slender RatDeep Cut85points
New Guinea tube-nosed batDeep Cut85points
New Guinea Waterside RatDeep Cut85points
New Holland MouseDeep Cut85points
New Ireland Masked Flying FoxDeep Cut85points
New Mexico Pocket GopherDeep Cut85points
New Mexico ShrewDeep Cut85points
New Zealand Long-tailed BatDeep Cut85points
New Zealand short-tailed batDeep Cut85points
Newmark's White-toothed ShrewDeep Cut85points
Newton's Long-fingered BatDeep Cut85points
Ngoc Linh MoleDeep Cut85points
Nguru Spiny MouseDeep Cut85points
Niangara Free-tailed BatDeep Cut85points
Nicaraguan DeermouseDeep Cut85points
Nicaraguan Harvest MouseDeep Cut85points
Nicaraguan Little Yellow BatDeep Cut85points
Nicaraguan Marsh Rice RatDeep Cut85points
Nicaraguan WoodratDeep Cut85points
Nicaraguan Woolly Mouse OpossumDeep Cut85points
Nicefor's TapetiDeep Cut85points
Niceforo Maria's Oldfield MouseDeep Cut85points
Niceforo's Big-eared BatDeep Cut85points
Nicobar Archipelago RatDeep Cut85points
Nicobar Flying FoxDeep Cut85points
Nicobar Roundleaf BatDeep Cut85points
Nicobar TreeshrewDeep Cut85points
Nicobar White-toothed ShrewDeep Cut85points
Niemitz's TarsierDeep Cut85points
Niethammer's Forest DormouseDeep Cut85points
Nigerian Free-tailed BatDeep Cut85points
Nigerian GerbilDeep Cut85points
Nigerian Mole-ratDeep Cut85points
Nigerian White-toothed ShrewDeep Cut85points

Why these answers count

Almost every entry in the reveal lands in the same high band, which tells you the puzzle rewards reach rather than precision: 6,485 of the 6,514 recorded answers cleared sixty points, and 6,295 of those sat at eighty-five. That middle tier is where competent, well-read answers live — the long descriptive species names that fill a museum checklist, such as Abert's Squirrel or Aba Horseshoe Bat, both worth eighty-five. The hundred-point pair sit apart because they are nearly impossible to arrive at by brainstorming: a single-species family described from a very limited range, and a small animal whose spine is famously reinforced, each rewarding whoever had read up on a taxonomic curiosity. Only 188 answers fell to sixty, presumably the everyday small mammals most players produce first. The lesson is that obscurity, not correctness, moves the score: a household name is valid but cheap, while a name almost nobody else can recall pays the maximum.