# Are there other species that have 'Midgets' or 'Dwarves' besides humans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971 "2016-01-02T02:27:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971/21 "2016-01-02T22:58:24Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > But those are a different species, not individuals within a species that are normally much larger. Reading the thread title, it looks like the OP is asking for individuals within a given species. Either way, I got to post a link to a dwarf elephant. Isn’t that enough? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971/22 "2016-01-02T23:14:08Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Either way, I got to post a link to a dwarf elephant. Isn’t that enough? He does sound like the elephant equivalent of Tyrion Lanister. You might get around with bullying him in the short run [ETA: oops, unintentional], but he’ll be back with a crossbow when you’re on the loo. He’s certainly a sporadic mutant, fits the bill of what the OP was asking about completely, I think. Elephants have _FGFR3_, the achondroplasia gene, and there are other articles saying that’s what it is, although I can’t find any primary source saying that they have taken DNA samples. I should be easy to verify the mutation if it’s in _FGFR3_. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971/23 "2016-01-02T23:38:15Z")
Planets! Lets not forget about the dwarf (dog) planets. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_Hey_Paula)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971/24 "2016-01-03T18:40:42Z")
> [@Blurgle](#): > > Achondroplasia can affect many animals - [dogs](http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/Musculoskeletal/c_dg_osteochondrodysplasia), for instance, and cats - the Internet-famous [Lil Bub](http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/tag/achondroplasia/) is an achondroplastic cat. > > Outside of achondroplasia, there are numerous breeds of dog bred to be short-legged - Corgis, dachshunds, etc. Wikipedia has an article on the extinct [Ancon sheep](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancon_sheep) breed which was apparently bred for shortness. Internet-famous Grumpy Cat and her brother (but not littermate) Pokey both have feline dwarfism. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971/25 "2016-01-04T07:21:37Z")
And of course (natural) dwarf trees. ---
**Author:** ![TheAllSeeingEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/919ad9/32.png) [@TheAllSeeingEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheAllSeeingEye)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971/26 "2016-01-04T07:31:08Z")
Bush flies. The little ones are permanently stunted because the egglayer didnt scrape together enough protein before offloading the eggs into a cowpat. I.e the little ones never get any bigger. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971/27 "2016-01-04T13:59:07Z")
Dwarves and midgets are pretty rare among humans, too. I’ve seen lots of humans in my life. I’ve lived in major cities and done a lot of traveling. I’d guess that I’ve seen a thousand times as many individual humans as I’ve seen individuals of any wild mammal. But outside of circuses and movies that specifically selected for extremely short people, I have only ever seen two dwarves and one midget, and I’m pretty sure the dwarves were related. (and I’ve never met either. These are people I saw in a subway station, or a department store.) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971/28 "2016-01-04T16:20:23Z")
Looks can be deceiving. My cat once tried to chase down what I thought was a gigantic mouse, but it turned out to be a baby kangaroo. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971/29 "2016-01-04T18:55:10Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Looks can be deceiving. My cat once tried to chase down what I thought was a gigantic mouse, but it turned out to be a baby kangaroo. He should stick to Tweety Birds… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971/30 "2016-01-04T22:27:29Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Dwarves and midgets are pretty rare among humans, too. Yes, dwarfism of all types is estimated to affect 0.0001% (1 out of 10,000 people) in the USA. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-other-species-that-have-midgets-or-dwarves-besides-humans/741971.md?page=1)