Does the Philippines really have “human-sized” bats?

“THERE IS A SPECIES OF BAT TALLER THAN ME. I KNOW ITS VEGETARIAN AND ALL BUT IM ACTUALLY SCARED.”

This was just one reaction to a recent tweet about the “human-sized bats” from the Philippines. The idea is understandably freaky, but is it accurate?

The tweet included a picture of a flying fox, a type of large fruit-eating bat found in Australia, East Africa and South Asia. The photo also shows a motorbike, which the bat looks big enough to ride.

However, this is a perspective trick; the bat is closer to the camera than the bike, making it look larger than it really is.

That said, the phrase ‘human-sized’ isn’t technically wrong – just very misleading. While their bodies are only thirty centimetres long, flying foxes’ wings can be 1.7 metres across (the height and arm span of an average man).

So, the Philippines does have some massive bats. However, unless you stretch out their wings, they’re more cat-sized than human. Worry no longer, internet.