The pekapeka has been crowned Bird of the Year in New Zealand
(Picture: New Zealand Department of Conservation)It is a decision that is likely to ruffle some feathers - a bat has been crowned Bird of the Year in New Zealand.
The long-tailed bat – known as a pekapeka-tou-roa – swooped to victory by 3000 votes after topping a hotly-contested online poll.
The creature, one of only two native land mammals in the country, is reportedly as small as a thumb and weighs the same as a $2 coin.
The annual competition is run by environmental charity Forest and Bird. It is the first time a mammal has been a contestant in its 16-year history.
Forest and Bird included the creature after claiming that “these flying furballs are threatened by the same problems as our native birds – predators, habitat loss and climate change”.
Pekapeka-tou-roa beat a flightless parrot – a kakapo - to the top spot in the largest vote count in the competition’s history.
A huge congratulations to the pekapeka long-tailed bat for winning #BirdoftheYear 2021! 🦇🏆
— Forest & Bird (@Forest_and_Bird) October 31, 2021
Despite being our only endemic land mammal, most people don't even know they exist, which makes their win even more outstanding. pic.twitter.com/dZEMNn7t5H
Event spokesman Lissy Fehnker-Heather said: “We had about 58,000 votes and they came from all around the world.”
Asked about the inclusion of the bats, she added: “Bats are New Zealand’s only native land mammals, and they are classed as nationally critical.
“They face a lot of the same threats that our native birds do, so this year, we thought we’ll try and get more people aware of that.”
She added that the pekapeka’s population rate is declining by around 5 per cent each year due to threats faced by predators including rats and possums.
“This year, we thought we’ll try and get more people aware of bats and the threats that they face. We thought we’ll include them in the Bird of the Year because there’s only two bats [species], so having bat of the year would not have been very exciting,” she said.
