[Animals] Fowl play? 'Bird of the Year' winner in New Zealand contest is a bat

[INTOXICADOS]

When is a bird not a bird? When it's a bat, according to a New Zealand contest that just named a highly endangered bat "Bird of the Year."

Pekapeka-tou-roa, or New Zealand's long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus), weighs about 0.4 ounces (11 grams) and a fully grown adult is about the length of a human thumb. This species of pekapeka — the Māori word for bat — was once common in New Zealand but is now exceptionally rare, representatives with Forest and Bird, a New Zealand conservation group and organizers of the contest, said in a statement. 

For two weeks, nearly 57,000 voters weighed in on selections for New Zealand's top bird; this year, for the first time in the contest's 16-year history, their choices included a mammal. Contest organizers added the long-tailed bat to the lineup to raise awareness about the species' endangered status, and it quickly flew to the top of the list with 7,031 votes, Reuters reported. Trailing behind in second place with 4,072 votes was the kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus), a tubby, flightless bird that's also known as an owl parrot.

 

link:https://www.livescience.com/bat-named-bird-of-the-year