Main image via Twitter
Bats are generally used to strike fear especially in movies and series with a horror-theme, and if they give you nightmares, we’ve got bad news for you because… human-sized bats exist.
A tweet recently went viral after a user shared a photo of a giant bat that exists in the Philippines 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 human-sized bat species is called the giant golden-crowned flying fox and are native to the Philippines, with a wingspan that can go up to 1.7 meters!
Imagine walking in the dark and a giant bat flies over you and the only thing you can think about is "vampires" as your life flashes before your eyes… well, lucky for you they are vegetarians!
The species belongs in the megabat family and they are also known as the golden-capped fruit bat, and are big enough to cover an average sized human while weighing up to 1.4kg.
As scary as that sounds, the bats primarily eat fruits (figs) and their diet is mostly fruits and plant leaves. They also spend most of the day sleeping because bats are nocturnal animals.
But unlike normal bats, these giant bats don’t use echolocation - a technique involving the use of sound waves and echoes, but instead depend on their eyesight to navigate and search for food.
They are also sadly endangered due to deforestation and poaching and have disappeared from many islands in the Philippines because they are unprotected; even with laws that make hunting and trading the species illegal.
The population of the megabat species has reportedly declined over 50% from 1986 to 2016 with increasingly less habitat for food and shelter.
Are you afraid of bats? Let us know what you would do if you encountered one of these megabats!
Info via Next Shark
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