People think bats are 'more beautiful' after watching video of them, new research finds

Jersey Zoo are on a mission to change people's attitudes towards bats.

Bats are on the endangered list, partly due to a loss of habitat, and those who care for the animals in Jersey want perceptions of the animals to change.

They say keeping the flying mammals alive is crucial to our biodiversity.

"If we lost bats, in many ways, those forests would become empty," says Dom Wormell, Head of Mammals at Jersey Zoo.

"They're really, really important. Things like wild bananas are sold solely dependent on bats. The agave tree, which in Mexico they make tequila from, [are] totally dependent on that sort of pollination."

The zoo have found that showing bats in their enclosure in the daylight helps to promote the species.

As not everyone may have time to visit the bats in person, researchers decided to make a five minute video to showcase the creatures.

They surveyed more than 300 people after showing them a video of the animals and found attitudes towards the species were more positive after watching the clip.

Eluned Price, one of the researchers, said: "Before and after we asked them questions about bats and how they felt about them. People after they'd seen the bat video rated them as being more beautiful, more important, more valuable."