This amazing photo of a 'human-sized bat' is not actually fake

There are some bats which are small, some which are large, and some which are disturbingly giant.

At least that's the impression you would get from looking at a photo of an enormous bat taking a daytime snooze.

The gigantic bat was snapped roosting in the outbuildings of someone's home, wrapping its wings round itself and closing its eyes.

Looking at the picture, you could be forgiven for immediately assuming that this was a fake, surely bats don't get that big?

But in fact, the picture has not actually been subject to any editing whatsoever after it was snapped.

The picture is not edited. (Twitter/@AlexJoestar622)

The species in the picture is a golden crowned flying fox, one of the largest species of bats in the world.

It can have a wingspan of as much as five-and-a-half feet wide, so pretty huge.

However, describing it as 'human-sized' is a bit of exaggeration as the bat's body is typically around one foot tall.

So how does this picture manage to make it look so big?

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

While it wasn't edited after being taken, the picture still has a few tricks in there to make its snoozing subject appear bigger than in reality.

Fly Foxes roosting in trees. (Sumit Saraswat/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

This is using a form of forced perspective which can enlarge or shrink a subject in a photo, or even a film if done cleverly.

Perhaps the most widely-known example of this technique being used was in the production of the Lord of the Rings movies.

Actors would have to follow elaborate scenes which were meticulously designed to make it appear as though they were right next to each other, but in fact were far apart.

And the difference in distance made it appear as though Elijah Wood was actually hobbit-sized while he talks to Ian McKellen.

This picture uses the same technique, but to make the bat look bigger than it actually is.

Nonetheless, a bat with a five-and-half-foot wingspan is still a hefty flying creature.

And for those who worry about the bat, it is vegetarian, mainly feeding on fruits it can find in the Philippines.

The species is particularly partial to figs, which are plentiful in the forests it inhabits.

Sadly, the giant golden crowned flying fox is classed as an endangered species.

This is due to a mixture of individuals being poached, as well as the destruction of their forest habitat.

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