November 03, 2021
Pekapeka-tou-roa flies off with bird prize
Posted On November 3, 2021
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The pekapeka-tou-roa or long tailed bat has flown away with this year’s bird of the year title.
Laura McKeown from Forest and Bird says it attracted 7031 votes compared with 4072 for the runner up, the kakapo.
She says it can use the attention.
“A bat is definitely not a bird it’s a mammal, but nz only has bats as our native land mammal so it’s kind of a good oppportunity for people to get to know them and learn about some of the threats they face and hopefully want to protect them,” she says.