World's Shortest Man Khagendra Thapa Magar is Larger than Life

(CBS) Size does matter - at least when it comes to getting into the Guiness Book.

A young Nepalese man no taller than a preschooler - 25.8 inches - was yesterday named the "world's shortest man" by Guinness World Records judges who flew to Nepal to size him up.

Khagendra Thapa Magar, a performer in a dance troupe who also helps his family sell fruit, was given the official title on his eighteenth birthday. His family had made repeated requests over the years, but the judges resisted on the grounds that he might not yet be fully grown.

"He was very tiny when he was born," Magar's mother, Dhana Maya Thapa Magar, told the BBC. "It was not possible to bathe him or clean him up because of his size. We had to hold him on our palm."

Mrs. Magar, her husband and their 13-year-old other son, are of average height. What explains Magar's short stature?

Local doctors are stumped, says Fox News, noting they lack facilities for detailed testing,

According to the Mayo Clinic, there are over 200 forms of dwarfism. Most come from a random mutation of one of the parent's genes. Although some dwarfs have medical problems, most are of normal intelligence and have normal life spans, says the non-profit group Little People of America.

"I don't consider myself to be a small man," Magar told the BBC. "I'm a big man. I hope that having this title enables me to prove it and get a proper house for me and my family,"

His goals may be within reach. Magar will soon become an ambassador for Nepal's tourist board. That's a long way from where he was four years ago, when a traveling salesman "discovered" him and took him to local fairs, where people paid to have their picture taken with him.