A very rare and endangered bat that was nursed back to health after it was discovered injured in South Florida has been released back into the wild.
The Florida bonneted bat, nicknamed Clyde, was discovered injured and crawling on the ground in Little Havana on Feb. 10 and was turned over to the South Florida Wildlife Center and later transferred to Zoo Miami.
The bat, which is Florida's largest and one of the most endangered mammals in the world, was cared for with the help of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and released back into the wild in Miami on March 1.
"As with any wildlife, you should not attempt to ever handle bats but bats are often misunderstood with over-inflated fears of rabies and falsely assumed aggression," Zoo Miami said in a statement. "They are in fact shy and incredibly helpful animals with some species able to consume their own body weight in insects in a single night."
