He’s fast, cocky, and can play Quidditch. Meet the bat who won a beauty contest

ASHLAND, OR. — A winged creature from Oregon was named this year’s winner Thursday at the annual competition. bat beauty contest carried out by the Bureau of Land Management.

On Halloween, which was also the last day of International Bat Week, a hoary bat with a sassy personality named “Grey Potter” defeated “Lestat”, a Western short-legged bat from Idaho, in the final round of the competition. It also beat out, among others, Townsend’s long-eared bat “Sir Flaps-A-Lot” from Utah.

The win marks the third straight year that an Oregon bat has taken first place in the competition. Last year, the title was won by “William Shakespeare,” a female Townsend’s long-eared bat from southern Oregon. The 2022 winner was a canyon bat named “Barbara,” also from southern Oregon.

The federal agency has been holding a competition since 2019 to raise awareness about animal ecological significance. The bats are part of a wild population living on public lands and are photographed by agency staff. BLM posted the photos on its Facebook and Instagram accounts and asked people to vote for the cutest photo.

Hoary bats are known for flying quickly and wrapping their tails around themselves to mimic leaves and hide from predators, according to the agency. This attribute makes it estimated that Gray Potter would be “an ideal candidate to be Seeker on this year’s Quidditch team,” referring to the Harry Potter game played on flying broomsticks.

Emma Busk, a BLM wildlife specialist who photographed Grizzled Potter, said bats play a key role in the environment by eating insects and pollinating flowers and fruits. But they are increasingly face to face with threats According to her, they are often mistakenly perceived as carriers of terrible diseases.

“Less than 1% of all bat populations actually carry rabies, and transmission of the disease from bats to humans is actually very low,” she said.

Busk said she hopes the event will spark even more love for the only flying mammal.