The ghost bat (Macroderma gigas) is Australia's only carnivorous bat species and one of the continent's most imperiled mammals — by 1998, its range had contracted to a handful of isolated colonies across the north. Cook Islands issued a series of wildlife-themed crowns throughout the 1990s under licensing arrangements that had little to do with the animals' native jurisdictions; this piece is effectively an Australian conservation coin issued by a Pacific territory for the international collector market.
The ghost bat (Macroderma gigas) is Australia's only carnivorous bat species and one of the continent's most imperiled mammals — by 1998, its range had contracted to a handful of isolated colonies across the north. Cook Islands issued a series of wildlife-themed crowns throughout the 1990s under licensing arrangements that had little to do with the animals' native jurisdictions; this piece is effectively an Australian conservation coin issued by a Pacific territory for the international collector market.