NZ bat for bird of the year: "it acts more like a bird than most of our actual birds"! Is this the best trolling ever?!

[aweegc]

Just heard this on the BBC and checked the papers, it appears to be real!

"The announcement caused some consternation among New Zealanders online. “A mammal is hi-jacking the BIRD of the year competition. We want to be inclusive, but …,” commented the NZ Science Learning Hub.
“I love bats, but bats are not birds,” one Twitter user. “It’s adorable. But not a bird,” another said.
Others supported the candidacy. “Who can be mad at a bat running for NZ bird of the year when it acts more like a bird than most of our actual birds? Our only mammals think they are birds. Our birds think they are burrowing mammals,” said one person on Twitter."

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/11/consternation-in-new-zealand-as-native-bat-included-in-bird-of-the-year-poll

Is this in fact the best trolling ever? I hope so!

[Gncq]

Ha! No option to comment below the article... "Russian Ornithologists" my arse! The world sees NZ as a laughing stock.

[EishetChayil]

This must be trolling! If so, it's ingenious.

[NewlyGranny]

I shall expect to hear Laurel Hubbard speaking out about how brave and stunning these bats birds are! They are clearly birding more effectively than most of the biological assigned-bird-at-hatching birds in NZ!

[LarkspurLane]

We need a new word for birds now, it's not inclusive any more. I suggest birdlike animals or maybe bards.

[TeamRex]

No new word needed, just like women has been changed by some to mean people identifying as a woman, a bird is now a bird or a identified by others as a bird even if a mammal.

So the ability to separate birds and mammals by biology is abandoned.

Apparently this is fine for women.

[Jaysmith71]

Rights-hoarding avians need to check their privelige.

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

What does mean for flightless birds? Such as the Kiwi...

[Jaysmith71]

The kiwi could self-identify as a fruit.

[ErrolTheDragon]

Didn't the Catholic Church identify various aquatic mammals as fish for the purpose of being allowed to eat them on Fridays or in lent?

[AgnesWaterhouse1566]

Bodies with cloaca will be up in wings.

(and I now realise that actually applies to both sexes of birds. I never thought I'd be googling that)

[ErrolTheDragon]

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

What does mean for flightless birds? Such as the Kiwi...

They could identify as dinosaurs, perhaps?

[Jaysmith71]

In the absence of any native terrestrial mammals, NZ bats are de-evolving back into shrews, increasingly scurrying around in the leaves hunting insects on the ground.

[MrsFin]

@LarkspurLane

We need a new word for birds now, it's not inclusive any more. I suggest birdlike animals or maybe bards.

"Cis-birds"?

[NewlyGranny]

Cloaca-havers? But that would include fish, of course. Feather-bearing cloaca-havers?

[JellySaurus]

How apt! Birds are dinosaurs.

[Saisong]

This is everything today - thank you!

[Tedimhoardingrightsosaur]

Bats are New Zealand’s only land-based mammals

Um, what about humans?

[Jaysmith71]

Plenty of introduced species: Rats, mice, rabbits, foxes, deer, feral cats, and humans.

[KittenKong]

Oh lord, that is funny!

[Tedimhoardingrightsosaur]

@Jaysmith71

Plenty of introduced species: Rats, mice, rabbits, foxes, deer, feral cats, and humans.

Oh, they mean indigenous. That's a bit anti immigrant. Tut tut.

[CeratopsofthePharoahs]

Well birds are considered to be descendants of dinosaurs. I guess they've been hoarding their little contest very selfishly.

[Pinkfairylights]

Absolutely brilliant.

[BrandineDelRoy]

@ErrolTheDragon

Didn't the Catholic Church identify various aquatic mammals as fish for the purpose of being allowed to eat them on Fridays or in lent?

Yes. The capybara. My favorite rodent!

[donquixotedelamancha]

Didn't the Catholic Church identify various aquatic mammals as fish

Mostly birds like the puffin but I think otters were on that list too.

[AlfonsoTheDinosaur]

Bats have feelings, too, you know.