Searching for a truly original holiday gift, one that could bestow a bit of immortality on a loved one or a friend? If so, Purdue University has the goods. The school is auctioning the naming rights to seven newly discovered species of bats and two of turtles.

Winning bidders will be able to link a relative, friend or themselves to an animal's scientific name for the ages. The first of the nine auctions began yesterday, when the school put up for grabs the naming rights to a tiny, gold-and-black insect-munching bat.