I will state right up front bats terrify me. While where I live, they are small creatures, they can still be scary. As a teenager, my best friends parents moved to a small town north of the city I grew up in. As a city girl, I knew little of the country. When I helped my friend bring some boxes up to the house before the big move, we slept on the floor of the living room that night. We brought our sleeping bags and kind of camped out. As we slept, I kept hearing a strange noise in the room. We stirred on and off but finally the noise became too loud, so we turned on the lights. To our horror, it was bats hovering overhead with their fluttery wings coming towards us at full speed as we both screamed our heads off. I will NEVER forget that and have been terrified of bats ever since. So imagine my horror when I heard of “human-sized” bats living somewhere on this planet of ours. (1)

1,400 Species Of Bats

Apparently, there are some 1,400 species of bats. I do realize they serve several important purposes including eating small annoying bugs like mosquitoes and even helping the pollination process. While some people think of bats as “cute”, I find them quite unattractive. Yet, many people love these little leathery winged creatures. (1)

Human-Sized Bat

Found all around the world in different shapes and sizes, for the most part, there’s no denying when one spots a bat that it is indeed a bat. However, when images hit social media of what people are calling “human-sized” bats, it definitely made quite a stir. (1)

The bats in question are giant golden-crowned flying foxes. They are freakishly large in comparison to other bats, at least in my neck of the woods. It is the largest of about 150 aptly named “mega bat” species. (1)

Human-Sized Bat A Flying Fox

The photo that appeared of the ginormous flying fox is beyond creepy. It’s not surprising it went viral. I shudder when I see it wrapped in its own cape-like wings hanging from the rafter. However, although the image is indeed authentic, it is a bit misleading. (1)

The image is taken at an angle that distorts what you see. What appears to be a massive bat when compared to the motorcycle and child in the image, is in fact simply an optical illusion due to the angle the images are taken from. (1)

Not Actually A Huma-Sized Bat

I sighed with relief when I learned that when taken from a more direct angle, the same bat does appear much more reasonable and far less terrifying in size. Nevertheless, this type of flying fox is still the largest bat in the world with a wingspan of 5 feet and a body averaging about 11 to 13 inches in length — so really, not that big at all. (1)

I’m glad to hear they live in Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Timor-Leste, and Thailand.  Nice and far from my home!(1)

It also sets one’s mind at ease knowing, these airborne creatures are herbivores, so no fear of being swooped up and eaten by one. (1)