Oli Aylen, Beautiful, beneficial, bats. (Animal 2020)

Bats provide many valuable ecosystem services, such as pollination, seed dispersal and pest control, But all too often bats are portrayed as demons in horror movies, or more recently as vectors of disease. When in reality, these harmless vegetarians are invaluable, and if left alone are of no threat to humans. The following images show these wonderful animals in the light they prefer to avoid.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.