Is that a white bat? Denver Zoo makes mysterious discovery, video shows

The Denver Zoo made a mysterious discovery just in time for Halloween.

While people are decorating with bats for the spooky season, the zoo discovered a rare creature in its bat cave exhibit.

A white bat has been flying around the exhibit, the zoo said Wednesday.

“Shikaka—named for the great white bat from a keeper favorite film—is a leucistic Seba’s short-tailed bat who was recently discovered when keepers set up a camera on the bat cave melon feeding station,” the Denver Zoo said in a Facebook post. “Albinism is a condition in which there is an absence of melanin, whereas leucism is only a partial loss of pigmentation.”

While it’s not unheard of for bats to be leucistic, there are very few bats with it, the zoo said.

This story was originally published October 9, 2020 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Is that a white bat? Denver Zoo makes mysterious discovery, video shows."