There's a New U.S. Quarter with Bats on It and Yes, They're Hanging Upside Down
Everyone’s change in 2020 is going to be a little bit battier.
The U.S. Mint has revealed the latest design that will appear on quarters this year as part of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program that was launched in 2010.
These quarters will feature the Samoan fruit bat in honor of the National Park of American Samoa.
The design features a mother fruit bat hanging upside down as her cub peers out from her wings, evoking “the remarkable care and energy that this species puts into their offspring,” the U.S. Mint said.
Fruit bats are much different than the small cave-dwellers that usually come to mind at the word “bat.”
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The animals are active both during the day and night and can have a wingspan of up to three feet, according to the National Park Service. Three species occupy the National Park of America Samoa, two that are large and one that’s smaller and eats insects.
“The design is intended to promote awareness to the species’ threatened status due to habitat loss and commercial hunting,” the Mint said. “The National Park of American Samoa is the only park in the United States that is home to the Samoan fruit bat.”
The 25-cent pieces will be inscribed with the words “National Park American Samoa 2020,” as well as the tradition motto of the United States, “E pluribus unum,” which appears on all U.S. coins and is Latin for “out of many, one.”
The new quarters will be released on February 3, the U.S. Mint said.
Other new quarter designs that coin enthusiasts can expect to see in 2020 include the Weir Farm National Historic Site in Connecticut, the Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Vermont and the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas.
