Your spare change is about to get a lot cuter. Beginning on Feb. 3, the United States Federal Reserve will release quarters with two fruit bats on the back as part of its “America the Beautiful Quarters” program.
The program, which has been around since 2009, depicts different national parks or sites on the coins. The fruit bats on the quarters that will be released in February are Samoan fruit bats — a baby and its mother, depicted hanging upside down — and are accompanied by the words “NATIONAL PARK” and “AMERICAN SAMOA” on the coin’s outer edge.
“The design is intended to promote awareness to the species’ threatened status due to habitat loss and commercial hunting,” the U.S. Mint said in a statement. “The National Park of American Samoa is the only park in the United States that is home to the Samoan fruit bat.”
The National Park of American Samoa is located about 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii and includes portions of three different islands: Ofu, Tutuila and TTa’ū. The Samoan fruit bat, also known as the “flying fox,” can have a wingspan of up to three feet and can only be found on the Samoan Islands and Fiji.
The fruit bat quarter is one of five “America the Beautiful Quarters” that will be released in 2020. You can check out the others here.
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