A zoo in eastern China has denied allegations that some of its bears might be people in costumes, after images of one their bears standing on its hind legs drew speculation online.
Hangzhou Zoo, home to sun bears which are found in southeast Asia, said this type of bear looked noticeably different to others.
They said that the animals from Malaysia were smaller than average bears but insisted that they were the real deal.
The pictures, which show a bear standing at the edge of its enclosure with its fur sagging above its legs, prompted accusations that the creature was really a zoo employee in disguise.
Hangzhou Zoo posted on social media from the unusual perspective of Angela, a Malaysian sun bear.
The post written from the bear’s first-person perspective said: "Some people think I stand like a person.
“It seems you don’t understand me very well”.
Angela the bear continued: “When it comes to bears, the first thing that comes to mind is a huge figure and amazing power … But not all bears are behemoths and danger personified. We Malayan bears are petite, the smallest bear in the world.”
Many online were sceptical about the legitimacy of the bear.
Newspaper Hangzhou Daily wrote: “Because of the way they stand, some people online question whether they are humans in disguise.”
Hangzhou Zoo have denied claims that the bear is not real
Reuters
A social media user said that it “looks like it’s wearing a leather jacket”.
Others commented on the bear’s posture, saying that it was “more upright” than your average human.
An employee at the zoo who answered the phone declined to talk about the bears but said that visits were being arranged for Mondays to come see the animals on Monday.
A spokesperson from the zoo said that the animal was real, in a recording that circulated on WeChat.
He said that such deception would not run at a state-run facility.
The Hangzhou Zoo spokesman also commented on the hot temperature at the time the images were taken, saying that a human in a fur bear suit “would not last more than a few minutes before collapsing”.
Dr Ashleigh Marshall, an expert from Chester Zoo, says that the animal in the video is real and that sun bears do often “look a lot like people in their costumes”.
She said that the bear’s folded skin around its rear end was a normal and very important feature of a sun bear’s anatomy.
Sun bears are the size of large dogs, as tall as 1.3 metres when standing on their hind legs.
This is much smaller than your average grizzly bear, which stand at up to 2.8 metres, according to the zoo.
Other Chinese zoos have drawn criticism after trying to pass off dogs as wolves or African cats, by dying their fur, and donkeys painted to look like zebras.
