Keep an eye out for a shiny new quarter with a raised image of fruit bats. Pictures of the coin hit the internet this week and social media is “going batty” over the cute currency.
As part of the U.S. Mint’s America the Beautiful Quarters Program, the new National Parks quarter dollar celebrates American Samoa and on the relief features a mother fruit bat and her pup hanging upside down.
The first special edition coin of the new year will be released on Feb. 3.
“The image evokes the remarkable care and energy that this species puts into their offspring,” the U.S. Mint wrote in its description. “The design is intended to promote awareness to the species’ threatened status due to habitat loss and commercial hunting. The National Park of American Samoa is the only park in the United States that is home to the Samoan fruit bat.”
Since 2010, the U.S. Mint has issued 56 quarter-dollar coins that feature designs which depict national parks and other national sites as part of its America the Beautiful Quarters Program.