An image has resurfaced from the catacombs of the internet to come back to haunt social networks. An alleged giant bat, "the size of a person", hangs upside down, wings crossed as it sleeps peacefully in a garage in the Philippines. But is it true?
If you've asked yourself that question, it means you're more careful than most web users and don't believe everything you see. But in the case of this animal, a flying fox with a golden crown (Acerodon jubatus), the animal is real, it's just not as big as the photo makes it seem.
The image first surfaced on Reddit a year ago when Filipino user “sakundes” allegedly found one of these animals in his backyard. At the end of last June, Twitter user “AlexJoestar622” retrieved the image, captioning it: “Remember when I told you about the Philippines having bats the size of humans? Yeah, that's what I was talking about."
Remember when I told y’all about the Philippines having human-sized bats? Yeah, this was what I was talking about pic.twitter./nTVIMzidbC
— Alex☔ (@AlexJoestar622) June 24, 2020
The issue is that the perspective of the photo (the motorcycle and the window in the background) makes the bat look much bigger than it is. Flying foxes can reach up to 1,7 meters in wingspan, which is quite large for a bat, but far from the size of an adult person. That is, in the photo, the bat is much closer to the camera than it appears, appearing larger in relation to other objects that we know the size of, like the motorcycle.
In the original Reddit post, “sakundes” posted another photo of the bat, from another angle, in which we can see its true size. Image: Reddit / Reproduction
Acerodon jubatus is one of the largest bat species in the world and can be found in parts of Africa, India, Asia and Oceania. The frugivores, these bats feed on fruit at dusk and roost upside down in trees during the day.
Via: Science Alert
