A giant "f***ing megabat" has left people horrified as they struggle to take their eyes off a snap of it hanging outside someone's house.
The Philippines is no place for people with a phobia of bats as the country is home to the giant golden-crowned flying fox which can grow a wingspan as wide as football star Lionel Messi is tall — 5ft 6inches.
One particular beast however went viral two years ago, capturing the imagination of thousands who refused to believe such a creature existed beyond fairy tales of monsters.
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Hilariously scared reactions to the snap flooded in despite the bat preferring fruit to the blood of prey as feared.
The user who uploaded the picture put any doubts the beast was real to rest in the post that quickly went viral.
He added: “Remember when I told y’all about the Philippines having human-sized bats? Yeah, this was what I was talking about.”
One Twitter user commented: "Golden crowned flying fox aka the f***ing megabat."
Someone else said: ""I would run to my car, drive to the airport and get on the first available flight if I ever see this outside my house."
"That’s Dracula," another wrote.
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Clearly thinking along the same lines someone else reacted: "If ppl wanted to know what a demon possibly looks like lol."
And a fourth confessed: "I admit, I would just straight away poop myself."
Rather than hunting down locals in the cloak of darkness, the golden-crowned flying fox tries to steer clear of humans and roost high up in fruit-filled trees.
Unfortunately, as the viral photo suggests, staying away from humans in the Philippines is becoming increasingly difficult as their habitat is destroyed for urbanisation.
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Its numbers in the wild are plummeting as a result and the added threat of certain communities capturing them for sale, sport and food does little for their survival.
As one of the largest bat species in the world at 5ft 6inches wide, the fact it only wants to eat fresh figs is not enough to make it any friendlier to some.
"Harmless or not I would still have a heart attack if one was flying near me," another person wrote.
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