Fluffy bird

Beautiful Goth Chickens

I mean, some people call bats 'sky puppies' and that's not wrong?

@KaiThePokemonMaster Most of them are cute enough. And even for the ones that aren't so cute, well, some dogs are ugly, too.

@ShifterCat you got a point

Here in NZ, we have 3 kinds of animals. Farm animals, birds, and sea creatures. We don't farm it, so it must be a bird.

@GreenFriday Chicken is a bird and the most numerous farm animal in the world.

Just don't eat one. We don't need that again.

Bats are cute

@Schattensturm Bats are very cute.

@Schattensturm Yep, for example (I hope the image link goes through):
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/747632629263892552/765588848582459392/d8af40cd0f79231c6aa10d5388982ad43964dbe01f4ff401101c7b50b78b80c2.png

The annual Bird of the Year competition a fun tongue-in-cheek event whose real purpose is, as was said, raising awareness of endangered animals.
Of course, if the long-tailed bat self-identifies as Aves, then who are we to force it to be Mammalia? In any case, it flies a lot better than the majority of the local species who were born as birds...

@sshipway cladistic classification makes things ridiculous anyway. Birds are reptiles, or else turtles aren't. Given the most recent common ancestors, there's no way to include crocodilians and turtles as reptiles while excluding birds.

@Snommelp Which is why birds have been classified as reptiles for most of the 21st Century.

@ShoggothOnTheRoof "most of the 21st Century" yeah, but that's only... oh... right, time continues to pass, and I'm old now.

@Snommelp Tell me about it.

If there is one animal I wish could be currently domesticated, it's the fruit bat.

Seriously, normal rats have been domesticated and are awesome pets. Add wings to the little squeakers and they just become more adorable! We need pet bats!

Ah, yes! Bird puppies!

Ah yes, the beautiful Flittermouse.

I personally find bats prettier than birds. Fur is fluffy, feathers are pokey, and cute little muzzles are a lot more adorable than "I'll smash your face with my face" beaks.

Bats certainly are endangered in New Zealand if they were kicked out of Mammalia and had to find refuge in Aves.