People Are Only Now Learning About "Human-Sized" Megabats

As usual, there's a weird animal picture circulating the Internet. Unlike a lot of them, this one is 100 percent real and almost as awesome as they make out. 

One Twitter user posted an image of the gigantic sky puppy in the Philippines, just relaxing on someone's porch like Nosferatu waiting for an invite, under the caption "remember when I told y'all about the Philippines having human-sized bats? Yeah, this was what I was talking about."

Obviously, while some were thrilled to learn about these fabulous furry beasts, others are not so keen.

As ever with a viral photograph, there are a few things to clear up. First up, they are not "human-sized" unless you are being very generous with your measurements by referring to "humans" when you actually mean "small child".

This image went viral a few years ago on Reddit, where the poster showed the animal, actually a flying fox (still a bat, not a fox), from a few angles. It went viral on Twitter again last year, and people's reactions were hilarious.

From the second angle, you can see it's not quite as gigantic as the perspective of the first photo made it look.

That's not to say that they aren't gigantic. Megabats can be – as the name suggests – pretty mega. Giant golden-crowned flying foxes have a wingspan of 1.5-1.7 meters (4.9-5.5 feet) and weigh up to 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds); about the height of an 11-year-old child, and the weight of a small chihuahua.

 

The photograph doing the rounds at the moment appears not to be a Golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) however, due to the lack of, you guessed it, golden crown. It's more likely a large flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus). These beasties have a wingspan of up to 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) with an impressive 27 to 32 centimeter (11-13 inCH) head-body length.

Both species of megabats are reassuringly vegetarian (for any of you worried out there), with the Golden-crowned flying fox preferring figs and the large flying fox feasting on fruits, nectar, and flowers.

In fact, they are unreasonably adorable.

[H/T: Science Alert]