People thought bears in exhibit were really humans — so now the zoo is weighing in
A zoo in China had to deny allegations that at least one of its bears was not really a bear at all — and was actually a human dressed up as the animal, reports say.
People started spreading the rumor after a video surfaced online showing a sun bear standing on its hind legs and interacting with the crowd at the Hangzhou Zoo, the Associated Press reported.
The zoo took to social media to set the record straight, the outlet reported.
“Some people think I stand like a person,” the AP reported the post said, written from the bear’s perspective. “It seems you don’t understand me very well.”
The video also seems to show what appear to be folds of skin at the bear’s rear — which someone suggested was the suit bunching up like pants would on a human, HuffPost reported.
According to a translation, the social media post says someone posted a video saying it was a person in a black bear disguise.
The zoo denied that allegation in a July 30 post on the social media website Weibo, saying a human wouldn’t have been able to withstand the high 40-degree Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) summer temperatures inside a sweltering bear suit.
The zoo acknowledged the smaller size of sun bears compared to grizzlies, The Guardian reported.
“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,” zoo officials said, according to the outlet. “We Malayan bears are petite, the smallest bear in the world.”
Other zoos in China have been accused of painting animals or dying their fur to look like a different species, such as donkeys painted to look like zebras or dogs dyed to look like wolves, the outlet reported.
Google Translate was used in the reporting of this story.
This story was originally published August 1, 2023 at 8:11 AM.
