Terrifying photo of ‘human-sized bat’ isn’t actually fake

Have you seen the picture of the giant man sized bat?

Of course you have, it's at the top of this page you already clicked on, so by now you'll be wondering if the existence of a human bat is real or not.

The thing looks blooming huge, and would appear to be a giant golden crowned flying fox, a very real species of megabat.

They're pretty much the biggest bat in the world, and this photo would leave you thinking that they're almost the size of a fully grown adult.

That's the stuff of nightmares whether you're scared of bats or not, and you might be wondering whether this man-bat thing could pose a threat to you.

First things first there's no need to worry, it's not really that big.

The social media post that had loads of people thinking: 'Holy f**k that's a big bat'. (X/@AlexJoestar622)

That doesn't mean it's not still an absolute unit of a bat - or something you'd want hanging in your bedroom.

The picture shows the creature hanging upside down in the outbuildings of someone's house.

It was shared on X by user @AlexJoestar622 back in 2019, who said: "Remember when I told y'all about the Philippines having human-sized bats? Yeah, this was what I was talking about."

So, while calling this bat 'human-sized' is something of a reach, it is certainly one of the world's largest bats.

Speaking of reach, this bat does actually have a wing-span that could be thought of as human-sized, because their wings can be up to five-and-a-half feet wide.

However, the actual body of the flying fox, which looks massive, is probably only around one foot tall.

Instead of showing us a secret gigantic bat monster that Bruce Wayne might want to fight, this picture is actually just a clever example of forced perspective.

It's not quite as gargantuan as it first appears thanks to the magic of forced perspective. (X/@AlexJoestar622)

That's where you take a picture in such a way that makes something seem massive, or really small, when it is actually just normal sized and in a slightly different perspective.

It's the sort of thing they used heavily in The Lord of the Rings trilogy to make the hobbits seem tiny, when they are actually probably the same size as the actors they're standing close to.

As for the giant golden crowned flying fox, there's a serious issue here, as they're currently classed as an endangered species as a result of deforestation and poaching for food.

What's more, even if it was massive, you'd have nothing to fear from this gentle giant. They are completely herbivorous, eating mostly figs and occasionally chowing down on some leaves.

They are exclusively found in The Philippines, and were initially discovered in three subspecies, but one has since gone extinct.

Additional words by Kit Roberts.