Every year, New Zealand has a famous contest where the public votes to select the ‘Bird of the Year‘. The competition aims to make more people aware of endangered birds. Last year’s winner was the kakapo, the world’s fattest parrot.

This year, shockingly, a type of bat, the long-tailed bat, has won the ‘Bird of the Year’. And no, bats are not birds.

What type of animals are bats?

Bats are mammals – animals that give birth to babies rather than laying eggs, and feed their young with milk. Bats are the world’s only mammals that can fly.

For the first time ever, contest organisers had included the bat as it is critically endangered (very few left in the wild). So, they wanted the public to know about it.

Since it is not a bird, many people are angry that it has won the contest. However, some people are also happy as more people will now learn about the long-tailed bat.

More than 56,700 people cast their votes in the Bird of the Year contest and more than 7000 people voted for the bat.

The long-tailed bat

The bat is also known as the pekapeka-tou-roa. It is brown in colour and is very small, only the size of a thumb. It is found only in New Zealand.

 

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