Photo of human-sized bat in the Philippines baffles social media users
An old photo of a human-sized bat in the Philippines has resurfaced on Twitter, puzzling social media users.
On June 24, a Twitter user with the handle @AlexJoestar622 shared an image of a giant golden-crowned flying fox hanging from a wire attached to the roof of a building.
"Remember when I told y'all about the Philippines having human-sized bats?" the user asked. "Yeah, this was what I was talking about."
The photo, which first went viral on Reddit in 2018, has since received nearly 270,000 likes and more than 72,000 comments.
Remember when I told y'all about the Philippines having human-sized bats? Yeah, this was what I was talking about pic.twitter.com/nTVIMzidbC
- Alex☔ (@AlexJoestar622) June 24, 2020
"Just imagine this bat waking up and flying straight at you," one user wrote in response. "I'd leave the country."
"This bat is taller than me and [I'm] both horrified and impressed in equal measure," another added.
"Dude that's a vampire," a third joked.
【ギャラリー】Pictures of the week: July 5 - 1130
While the picture may seem edited, fact-checking website Snopes confirmed its authenticity in 2019.
The giant golden-crown flying fox is native to the Philippines and can have a wingspan of 5 feet 6 inches, according to Bat Conservation International. The bat only feeds on fruits and can normally be found in undisturbed forests. The organization notes that while the golden-crown flying fox plays an important role in "multiple forest ecosystems in which it lives," the enormous bat is an endangered species as a result of deforestation and hunting.
- This article first appeared on In The Know
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