An image of a massive bat of a size similar to a 6-year-old human has surfaced on social media giving people a spine-chilling experience. A ‘megabat’ which is close to the size of a human can be seen hanging upside down from a loosely tied wire in someone’s courtyard, in the picture. A twitter user Alex (@AlexJoestar622) posted two pictures of the bat on his profile with the caption, “'Remember when I told y'all about the Philippines having human-sized bats? Yeah, this was what I was talking about'.”
The creature captured in the pictures is a massive bat found in the Philippines which is known as the ‘Golden-crowned flying foxes.’ with a wingspan which can extend up to 5.5 feet, these massive bats are said to be ‘endangered’ by the Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They have a fox-like face and distinct snout similar to those of canines and can be 7 to 11 inches tall. These bats originally belong to the Philippines itself and are colloquially known as ‘Fox with wings.’ These bats have a golden-brown fur distinctively on their head and can be found inside deep caves and rain forests. They also have pointed ears unlike other species of bats which have round ones.
Having a vegetarian diet, these bats are not considered as a threat to humans as they only feed on figs and other fruits. However, with the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, bats have been considered a threat for a very long time. Research had proven in the past how some of the worst-hit viral diseases like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) were related to bats.
Although the image has gone viral on social media in recent times, after doing a reverse image search of the viral photograph, it was found that this same picture has been present on social media since 2018. The same image was seen in a piece of Taiwanese news back in 2018.
