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The winner of this year's Bird of the Year competition in New Zealand has been announced, and it's a bat!

The pekapeka-tou-roa, or long-tailed bat, swooped to victory in the public vote to be crowned 2021's Bird of the Year!

More than 58,000 people from 100 countries voted in the competition - the highest number of votes since the competition began - with the long-tailed bat getting more than 7,000 votes.

"A huge congratulations to the pekapeka long-tailed bat for winning Bird of the Year 2021!" said Forest & Bird, the conservation organisation who ran the competition, in a post online.

"Despite being our only endemic (native) land mammal, most people don't even know they exist, which makes their win even more outstanding."

Why was a bat included in the competition?

The Bird of the Year competition is a yearly vote held to raise awareness of New Zealand's wildlife and threatened species.

The competition name in Māori - one of the official languages spoken by the people of New Zealand - is: Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau, and the word 'Manu' means 'flying creatures', including bats.

"These bats were added to Forest & Bird's competition to help people get to know them, and their story has flown around the world!" said Ben Paris, the Senior Conservation Advisor at Auckland Council.

"These flying furballs are threatened by the same problems as our native birds - predators, habitat loss and climate change. The more we do to protect them, the more it helps their feathered friends" said Forest & Bird.

The decision to include a bat in the competition did cause a bit of controversy, and some people were unhappy about it, saying the country had gone "batty" and that the competition was a "total farce".

Last year's champion the kākāpō came second in the competition with just over 4,000 votes, followed by the tītipounamu, New Zealand's smallest bird, in third place with around 2800 votes.

What do you think? Do you think the long-tailed bat should have won, or are you a fan? Let us know in the comments below!