Medford, Ore. – While candidates anxiously await Midterm election results, a Southern Oregon bat swooped in to claim the most votes in the Bureau of Land Management’s annual Bat Beauty contest.
The contest is part of Bat Week. BLM Wildlife Biologist Brad Jost says it’s a fun way to promote how bats contribute to our ecosystem, “They’re really great consumers of a lot of insect pests in forest and agriculture lands.” They are also critical pollinators and help disperse seeds. And apparently, “They are really cute,” says Jost, “One of my colleagues calls them ‘flying puppies’.” While the rest of us might not put them in line with puppies, pallid bat Ryan GosWING clearly has something special. He beat Montana’s Dolly BATton in the first round of voting, then a contestant from Utah in the Final Four. In the final round, he bested Batty White, a hairy-legged vampire bat.
BLM Wildlife Biologist Brad Jost says Ryan GosWING’s big ears aren’t just beautiful, they serve a purpose, “One of the unique things about pallid bats is they use those really large ears to listen for the sounds of insects moving on the ground. So they’re really adept at landing and consuming insects on the ground. And, are kind of scorpion specialists; they actually appear to be resistant to scorpion venom.”
Unfortunately, this beauty crown doesn’t come with prize money. “He goes down in the history books, of course,” says Jost, “He was released back into the wild, so he’s out there unharmed, living his best bat life.”
The contest launched six years ago, and Oregon bats have claimed the last four wins, securing dynasty status. Jost says it’s no accident: Oregon is home to 15 bat species and some prime real estate, “With the habitat ranging from the west side of the Cascades through the desert and rangelands of the east side. So, just great habitat and species diversity.”
Previous Oregon winners include Hoary Potter (2024) and ShakespEAR (2023).
