‘Bird of the Year’ award in New Zealand

Subject – Environment

Context – ‘Bird of the Year’ award has created controversy in New Zealand

Concept –

Pekapeka-tou-roa, a native New Zealand bat, has won the country’s annual Bird of The Year award, hosted by Forest and Bird, an independent conservation organisation.
The title, awarded to a native mammal instead of a bird, has rung up controversy in the country.
Pekapeka-tou-roa or New Zealand’s long-tailed bat is one of the two surviving species endemic or native to New Zealand. They are present throughout the mainland and can also be found on some offshore islands in the country.
The species is a small-sized bat with a long tail, which is the only difference between long-tailed bats and New Zealand’s other land mammal, the short-tailed bat.
Long-tailed bats fly at duck using echolocation calls to hunt moths, mosquitoes and insects.
IUCN status – Critically Endangered