New Zealand: Long-tailed bat wins country's 'Bird of the Year' competition

New Zealand's only native land mammal — a bat has won the country's annual Bird of the Year competition. The competition's organisers, Forest & Bird, put the bat among the pigeons this year as a surprise entry. The pekapeka-tou-roa, or long-tailed bat, is one of the country's two bat species and one of the world's rarest mammals, reported The Guardian. The voting ended on Halloween night, October 31. The very next day, Lissy Fehnker-Heather of Forest & Bird revealed the winner on RNZ's Morning Report. She stated the pekapeka-tou-roa won by 3,000 votes over the avian flock, and that this year's competition had the most overall votes in the competition's 17-year-old history. "We received roughly 58,000 votes from all across the world," she was quoted as saying by the outlet.  

Speaking about the bat's entry into the competition, Fehnker-Heather stated that bats are New Zealand's only native land mammals, and they are classified as nationally critical. "They face many of the same challenges as our native birds, therefore this year we decided to raise awareness about it," she said. According to her, rats, possums, stoats, and cats are all severe threats to the species, with the population dropping at a rate of about 5 per cent every year. The kākāpō, the world's only nocturnal and flightless parrot and last year's champion, came in second. The tītipounamu, or rifleman, was adjudged third. It is regarded as the gods' messenger by Māori. Fourth place went to Kea, the world's only alpine parrot, who is notorious for wrecking automobiles and being extremely intelligent. The Antipodean Albatross, one of New Zealand's largest seabirds, was adjudged fifth. 

The annual Bird competition and its controversies

The annual Bird competition is not without its share of controversies as many people in the country thought this year's result was not fair as a bat does not come in the category of birds. In 2019, hundreds of votes from Russia sparked claims of election manipulation. The votes were eventually deemed valid. Forest & Bird claimed that 300 false votes were cast in the online voting by Australians trying to rig the race in the shag's favour in 2018. "It wouldn't be Bird of the Year without a scandal," Fehnker-Heather said when asked if other threatened flying species, such as bees, might be featured in future competitions, reported The Guardian. 

(Image: Twitter/@Ben Paris)