A zoo in eastern China has been forced to deny some of its bears are actually humans in costume.
A video of one of its sun bears standing on slender, hind legs with loose, baggy-looking skin was circulated online and users suggested the animal wasn’t actually the real thing.
They accused Hangzhou Zoo, in the province of Zhejiang, of dressing humans up like bears.
Posting on its social media account today, the zoo insisted the sun bears, native to Malaysia, were the real deal.
Writing from the bear’s point of view, it said: ‘Some people think I stand like a person. It seems you don’t understand me very well.’
An employee who answered the phone at the zoo declined to talk about the bears but said visits were being arranged for reporters to see them.
Sun bears are the size of large dogs, standing at most 1.3 meters (50 inches) tall on their hind legs, compared with up to 2.8 meters (9 feet) for grizzlies and other species, according to the zoo.
Other Chinese zoos have been accused of trying to pass off dogs dyed to look like wolves or African cats, and donkeys painted to look like zebras.
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