Comments on: Giant Bat “Hoax” Flies Again

By: Alamo

Alamo — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:12:03 +0000

The former Subic Bay naval base is (used to be?) full of flying foxes... some with wingspans easily over 3 feet... I watched tens of thousands of them fill nearly all the trees in a valley. The trees were chock full, to the point that they were bare of leaves, leaving only strange, furry fruits. Looks like they turned him into a company insignia of sorts (think of it as a patch)... cigar smoking bat under a combat knife... not unusual for the Scout Rangers to have some sort of unique identifier for their particular group:

By: mandors

mandors — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 21:47:11 +0000

Whatever it is, it is NOT a flying fox. I have seen them close up, that is not a flying fox’s head. The giant flying fox at rest looks like a red tailed fox–with odd yellow eyes–draped in a leather overcoat when hanging upside down. They are actually–if you’ll excuse the expression–pretty cute.

This thing looks like Godzilla with wings.

Okay, we have a giant fake bat, that with the cigaret, the knife, military personnel all wearing the same uniform–my guess is it’s a special forces camp. The shorts in the uniform speak of British influence, so I’ll guess Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia…

By: Wee Falorie Man

Wee Falorie Man — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 06:32:43 +0000

Yes, the “sword” is a clue that it is definitely NOT a “giant” bat. First of all, it is not a sword at all but a combat knife which has a standard total length of less than 12 inches. This shows you the actual size of the bat. It only looks giant because it is closer to the camera than the soldiers. It’s analogous to taking a picture of your hand beside a full moon; in the resulting photograph, your hand will look bigger than the moon because it is closer to the camera

By: Dr Kaco

Dr Kaco — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 05:45:34 +0000

That’s a cigar man, get it right. It’s a disguinshed bat! ;p

By: Big Steve

Big Steve — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 19:33:32 +0000

Sorry. One more thing to note. Is that bat smoking a cigarette?

By: Big Steve

Big Steve — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 19:30:32 +0000

Hi.

Looks to me like a well framed shot. A photo like this could be easily taken with a wide angle lens (especially like those on mobile phones). So I would believe this bat is nothing unusual size wise, and will be their dinner! It’s shame the soldiers weren’t holding the bat as a good size reference.
The only decent size reference would be the “sword” which to me looks more like a bayonet or fighting knife, and I would guess at the blade being no more than 8″-10″ max. This knife will probably be used to carve the tasty critter once cooked.
Have a go with your mobile and see the kind of similar picture you can take.
Also to note is the apparent lack of interest of the soldiers. I’m sure a giant bat would have yielded some good pictures with the soldiers in various poses!

What do you think?