The Ahool or the Athol is a winged cryptid. Some portray the creature as a giant bat while others claim it is a flying primate. The name Ahool comes from its loud distinct cry, "Ahool!"

It is said to live in the deepest parts of the jungles of Java and can be found across most of Indonesia. Sub-species can be found on the nearby island of New Guinea in the form of the Ropen, a presumed cousin to the Ahool. The Ropen has a long snout, large wings, and a long thin crest. The Ahool though, has a distinct face that has features of both a chimpanzee's and a bat's, large dark eyes, red-skinned wings, large claws on its forearms, and is covered in grey fur. It is said to have a wingspan of 18 to 28 feet or 6 to 9 meters. That is 3 to 4.5 times the size of the largest bat known to man, the flying fox.

 

Although it mainly eats local fauna, such as large fish, it will, opportunistically, occasionally attack humans. Most likely because the creature/animal is extremely territorial and an opportunist, meaning it will attack larger prey when the conditions present themselves. One scientist theorized that the creature may be related to another cryptid, the Kongamato. However, it's described as more of a bat-like creature than a reptile-like one. It may be closely related to the Orang Bati.

 

In 1925, naturalist Dr. Ernest Bartels, son of noted ornithologist M.E.G. Bartels, was exploring a waterfall on the slopes of the Salek Mountains when a giant unknown bat, the Ahool, flew directly over his head. In 1927, around 11:30 pm, Dr. Ernest Bartels encountered the Ahool again. Bartels was lying in bed, inside his thatched house close to the Tjidjenkol River in western Java, listening to the sounds of the jungle. Bartels suddenly heard a very different sound coming from almost directly over his hut, this loud and clear cry seemed to utter "A Hool!"