The Bureau of Land Management is hosting its fifth annual bat beauty contest to celebrate Bat Week, bringing together some of the most beloved winged creatures of the night in a friendly competition, the New York Post reported.
This contest serves a dual purpose: celebrating the spooky Halloween season while raising awareness about bats, which face increasing threats from habitat loss, disease, and light pollution, the bureau's wildlife technician, Emma Busk explained to the New York Post.
Busk highlighted common misconceptions about bats, including the mistaken belief that they commonly carry diseases like rabies. "There's a lot of fear and misconceptions around bats, but less than 1% of all bat populations carry rabies, and bat-to-human disease transmission is very low," she clarified.
The contest began in 2019 to raise awareness of bats' ecological importance, similar to the popular Fat Bear Week. The agency shares pictures of the contestants on Facebook and Instagram, allowing the public to vote for their favourite bat.
All bats featured in the contest are part of wild populations on public lands, with agency staff photographing and naming them. Often, a bat's name plays a big role in its popularity.
Last year's champion was a female Townsend's big-eared bat from southern Oregon named "William ShakespEAR." In 2022, however, a canyon bat named "Barbara" from southern Oregon took the top spot.
This year, Busk is cheering for "Hoary Potter," a hoary bat from Oregon she photographed. Hoary Potter faces off against a Townsend's big-eared bat named "Sir Flaps-A-Lot" from Utah. Though neither species is endangered, both Oregon and Utah have listed them as in need of conservation attention.
"Our goal each year is to gather as much data as possible on these species in our area, so we can improve efforts to protect them," Busk said.
The contest, which concludes on Halloween, will reveal this year's cutest bat. Townsend's big-eared bats are known for their large ears, which can stretch up to 1.5 inches, about a third of their total body length. The hoary bat, known for its swift flight and camouflage, earned its name for being "the perfect candidate for seeker on this year's Quidditch team," according to the agency.
