New Zealand’s annual Bird of the Year Contest has contributed to its fair share of funny headlines over the years. But in a major upset to New Zealand birds, this year’s election saw a surprise contender swoop in and glide ahead of the rest of the flock by a massive lead. The surprise contender in question: a species of bat called the pekapeka-tou-roa.

The pekapeka-tou-roa, or long tailed bat, is one of only two surviving bat species endemic to New Zealand and is one of the rarest mammals in the world. It is as small as a thumb, weighing between 8-12 grams and is distinguished from New Zealand’s other bat species by its relatively long tail.

On being asked by RNZ’s Morning Report whether the bat’s entry was a publicity stunt, Forest and Bird’s Lissy Fehnker-Heather replied in the negative: “Bats are New Zealand’s only native land mammals and [the pekapeka-tou-roa] are classed as nationally critical. They face a lot of the same threats that our native birds do, so this year, we thought we’ll try and get more people aware of that.”

Fehnker-Heather mentioned that the species’ population is declining by roughly 5% a year. A major threat to the long tailed bat comes from invasive animals like rats, cats, possums and stoats, all of which can climb the trees where the bats regularly roost. Other threats include wind farms and habitat destruction due to logging.

Fehnker-Heather announced that the pekapeka-tou-roa had a lead of around 3,000 votes, adding that this year’s election, which closed on Oct. 31, drew the highest number of votes in the 17 years that the competition has been running. “We had about 58,000 votes and they came from all around the world,” she said.

The second to fifth places went to the kākāpō, titipounamu, kea and toroa, sequentially. The black robin or kakaruia, kororā, ruru, whio and Rockhopper penguin made up the remainder of the top 10.

On being asked whether future competitions would include other threatened flying animals, Fehnker-Heather vaguely replied: “It wouldn't be Bird of the Year without some scandal, so we never know what will happen.”

A missing man in Turkey’s Bursa province accidentally joined his own search party for hours before realizing he was the person they were looking for.

Beyhan Mutlu, 51, had been drinking with friends on Tuesday when he wandered into a forest in Bursa province. When he failed to return, his wife and friends alerted local authorities and a search party was sent out to find Mutlu, who had gone to sleep in a house in the forest.

In the morning, Mutlu stumbled across members of the search party and decided to help them find the missing person. He realized he was the focus of the search when they began calling his name, upon which he replied: "I am here." The search party refused to believe him and kept searching until Mutlu was identified by a friend.

Mutlu told local media that he was part of the search team for more than half an hour.

Noorul Ameen from Kochi, Kerala, India ordered an Apple iPhone 12 for ₹70,900 (AED 3476) from Amazon, but instead received a bar of Vim, a popular Indian brand of dishwashing soap and a ₹5 coin.

Ameen ordered the iPhone on Oct. 12 from Amazon's trusted seller Appario using his credit card. The phone was dispatched from Hyderabad but had stopped in the Tamil Nadu city of Salem for a day. On receiving his package on Oct. 15, Ameen, who was aware of similar incidents of e-commerce fraud, decided to record an unboxing video in front of the delivery man, only to find one Vim dishwash bar and a ₹5 coin inside. He reported that the package weighed similar to an actual iPhone.

Ameen immediately called Amazon customer care and filed a police complaint. The police launched an investigation and found that the iPhone was being used by someone in Jharkhand since Sept. 25, 15 days before Ameen ordered the phone. The seller later refunded Ameen the amount paid for the phone.

Pokémon trading cards have always been popular, but their value suddenly shot up last year as Pokémon celebrated its 25th anniversary. Unbelievably, on Oct. 29, Vinath Oudomsine of Dublin, Georgia, pleaded guilty to defrauding Georgia’s Small Business Administration and using more than two thirds of his Covid-19 relief loan to pay for a rare Pokémon trading card.

On Oct. 19, Vinath Oudomsine was charged with one count of wire fraud after the government said he lied about how many employees he had and the revenue his business generated in an application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan during the pandemic. According to the charges, Oudomsine submitted an application for an EIDL in July 2020 on behalf of a business that he declared has been in operation since 2018. The application stated that his business had 10 employees and a gross revenue of $235,000 over 12 months. As a result, the Small Business Administration awarded Oudomsine an $85,000 loan on Aug. 4. Oudomsine later used more than two thirds of the loaned amount to buy a Pokémon trading card for $57,789.

Having pleaded guilty, Oudomsine now faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

Accidental short-changing isn’t usually considered a felony offense. But for one Joseph Sobolewski, a homeless man in Perry Country, Pennsylvania, underpaying for a bottle of Mountain Dew by 43 cents nearly got him into prison for up to seven years.

In August, Sobolewski went into an Exxon in Duncannon and saw a sign advertising two 20-ounce Mountain Dew bottles for $3, he said. He took one bottle, slapped $2 on the counter for what he thought was a $1.50 soda and walked out, not realizing the discount did not apply to a single bottle. The bottle really cost $2.29, so including tax, he owed the store 43 cents.

State police found Sobolewski and arrested him on a felony charge. A judge ordered him held on a $50,000 cash-only bond. He was in jail for seven days before his public defender successfully argued for his release. Perry County prosecutors later dropped the felony theft charge against him and downgraded another charge, as reported by Patriot-News on Oct. 26.

Sobolewski had twice in the past 10 years been charged with theft, once for not paying for a tank of gas and another time for stealing a pair of shoes from a store. Under Pennsylvania’s three-strikes law, a third theft charge must be a felony, regardless of the amount or value involved. Sobolewski faced the possibility of a prison sentence between three-and-a-half to seven years long.

Sobolewski told the Patriot-News that it was “great news” that the felony was being dismissed. “I feel I was treated unequally because I had a record.”