Photo of a 'Human-Sized' Bat Is Freaking People Out | 22 Words

It's difficult to grasp the amount of weird and wonderful animals that inhabit our small planet. Every year scientists are observing new species and discovering strange creatures, with some that look like props straight out of Star Wars.

And as strange as these creatures are, there's one, in particular, that has recently stolen the limelight and the photos are more terrifying than I thought they would be.

Keep scrolling to have a look for yourselves...

There are over 8 million species of animals on Earth, so it's no surprise that nobody has seen them all.

Here's the kicker... If you wanted to look at all the animals roaming our planet, it would take around 8 years of non-stop scanning, and that's if you spent thirty seconds per photo, without eating or sleeping... That's just madness.

Let's face it, nobody's got time for that...

That's why we've done the hard work for you, and found the weirdest of the bunch, so you don't have to spend a decade sifting through the lot.

You'll be amazed that these sometimes very unsightly beings inhabit the same planet as us!

Keep scrolling to see the world's latest attraction... The human-sized bat.

1. Venezuelan Poodle Moth.

This species of alien-looking moth was only recently discovered in Venezuela in 2009, its poodle-like fur covers the entire body. It's kind of cute though.

2. Glaucus Atlanticus

This tie-dye looking creature is also known as the blue dragon and is a species of blue sea slug.

3. Dumbo Octopus

This is an umbrella octopus, found all over the world. Its name comes from Disney's "Dumbo" because of their elephant-like ears.

4. Red-Lipped Batfish

These little guys are found on the Galapagos Islands and are actually pretty bad swimmers, instead opting to use its fins to walk along the bottom of the sea bed! I just want to know what shade that is.

5. Panda Ant

Despite its name, and looking like an ant, it's actually a form of wingless wasp. It has also coined the name "cow-killer," due to its painful sting.

6. Sea Pig

They are actually a type of sea cucumber that lives at depths of over 1000 meters! I mean if I looked like that, I probably would too.

7. Superb Bird-Of-Paradise

Superb bird-of-paradise has a small female population, which could be the reason males are so extra when it comes to attracting a mate. I wish someone would do that for me.

8. Pink Fairy Armadillo

These are the smallest species of armadillo, and definitely the cutest. They look like a pink wafer.

9. Maned Wolf

I believe the word they're looking for is werewolf... These wolves have disproportionately long legs and are extremely shy around humans, although they tend to form bonds with other animals.

10. Star-Nosed Mole

It literally looks like its head was cut off and it just stayed alive... like that.

11. Shoebill

Welcome, all Harry Potter fans... This shoebill is a large stork-like bird that lives in the swamps of East Africa, but wouldn't look out of place on the grounds of Hogwarts.

12. Aye-Aye

You can find this crazy looking creature in Madagascar, where it spends the day tapping on wood in search of insects only to then use its giant finger to scoop its prey out. Freaky.

13. Naked Mole-Rat

For some unfathomable reason, the naked mole-rat is also known as the sand puppy... It's not like any puppy I've ever seen.

14. Human-Sized Bat.

The latest attraction to steal a place in people's nightmares is none other than a "human-sized" bat that was spotted in the Philippines.

A Twitter user, @AlexJoestar622 wrote this:

"Remember when I told y’all about the Philippines having human-sized bats? Yeah, this was what I was talking about."

And posted these two snapshots to go along with it:

It shows a bat known as the "giant golden-crowned flying fox" which can have a wingspan of up to 5.5 feet long, which is longer than I am, but in terms of the body, that grows to about 1 foot in total.

The images aren't fake, but always remember that perspective plays a massive role in this.

This particular type of bat is listed on the endangered species list as poaching and deforestation are killing the animals. Keep scrolling to see how the pandemic has affected our wildlife...