WHEN YOU THINK of cute animals, bats are probably not something that comes to mind but that’s all about to change once you watch this video.

Lil’ Drac is a short-tailed fruit bat who has been taken in by the Bat World Sanctuary after he was orphaned.

The good folks from Bat World inform us that the little guy was abandoned by his mother who was so traumatised by a zoo she was living in closing, she had to be moved.

As Huffington Post reports, because he’s not being raised by his mother the volunteers at the Bat World Sanctuary have had to stroke his stomach with a cotton swab in order to replicate the feeling of his mother’s tongue.

Check out the video, packed with cuteness:

So far, the little fella is doing well as an update on Bat World Sanctuary’s Facebook page this afternoon explains:

He is getting practice flights every morning in a 55′ flight cage. His ears are marked in green tattoo ink (temporary) so we can identify him on the off chance he takes off like a rocket and gets lost in the crowd of his roost-mates.

Of course that is what we are hoping for in the end – the tattoo ink will help us keep an eye on him in the meantime. By the time it wears off he will be a “real bat” and will no longer need to be marked. He is not flying well yet so is sleeping in the incubator right now.

It’s a good job we can get updates on the tiny guy on Facebook because the Santuary’s website, BatWorld.org, is currently down. Why? “A high volume of traffic due to a video that has gone viral,” a statement reads.