Picture of ‘human-sized’ bat from Philippines goes viral

Many netizens posted comments trying to give more information about the mammal and tried to clarify doubts people had.

Picture of human-sized bat from Philippines goes viral

A picture shared on Twitter showing a ‘human-sized’ bat hanging inverted from a roof in the Philippines has taken the internet by storm. The picture was taken by a Twitter user called Alex, with the handle @AlexJoestar622. He posted two pictures on his feed of what looks like a giant bat. The creature is supposed to be a giant golden-crowned flying fox.

A Twitter user posted a picture and wrote,” Remember when I told y’all about the Philippines having human-sized bats? Yeah, this was what I was talking about.”

Meanwhile, the “human-sized” bat hanging from the ceiling left the netizens shocked. Later, the Twitter user apologized for using the word “human-sized” in his tweet as the wingspan of the bat is 5.58 and not its height.

“Let me clear things up for a bit”

1. It’s a 6 year-old human-sized or like about that of a small dog (check the replies)

2. 5.58 is the wingspan, not it’s height

3. I apologise for using “human-sized.” It was how it was referred to me for a very long time and I believed it,” he wrote.

“Because I saw pictures of them being that big (there are pictures in the replies)

4. It’s endangered

5. This pic in the tweet above this one is already old

6. The purpose of this tweet was to share stuff about what I thought I knew. I’m reading the replies and I’m educating,” he added.

Apparently, the picture is of the endangered golden-crowned flying foxes which are found in the Philippines. They aren’t known to be a threat to humans. Their diet mostly consists of figs and other fruits. The giant golden-crowned flying fox is endemic to the Philippines.

It is a forest specialist, occurring mostly at elevations from sea level to 1,100 m. It prefers areas uninhabited by humans. They also like to be close to agricultural fields, but only in undisturbed forest areas

The picture has garnered a whopping 2.7 lakh ‘likes’ and thousand of stunned comments on Twitter. While many branded it terrifying, others raised doubts about the picture’s authenticity.

The picture, however, is not actually fake. According to fact-checking website Snopes, the photograph truly depicts an animal that exists in the real world.

It is said that there is some confusion over the species of bat photographed, the general consensus is that the picture shows a giant golden crowned flying fox. Also known as the golden-capped fruit bat, this species of mega bat is endemic to the Philippines.

The giant golden crowned flying fox can have a wingspan of up to 5.5 feet, but its body only grows to about a foot in height.
This makes this fruit-eating bat bigger than regular bats, but definitely not human-sized, as has been claimed in the viral tweet.