Hangzhou Zoo in China denied that its sun bears are actually humans in costumes after the animals went viral.
You've heard that people can sometimes resemble their pets, but have you heard of zoo animals that look suspiciously like humans?
Hangzhou Zoo in eastern China has been dealing with these kinds of claims. The zoo is home to Malayan sun bears, the smallest species of bear in the world. When video began to go viral of one of the ursine creatures standing on its hind legs, some people questioned whether they were looking at a bear at all, instead believing it was a human in a realistic sun bear costume.
WATCH: ???? A viral video of a black sun bear at the Hangzhou Zoo in China's Zhejiang province has some netizens convinced that it is a human in disguise. The zoo has since spoken out to quell the rumours, maintaining that it is "definitely a real animal". pic.twitter.com/hzHOZSnLPT
— TODAY (@TODAYonline) July 31, 2023
Local newspaper Hangzhou Daily explained the controversy. "Because of the way they stand, some people online question whether they are ‘humans in disguise,'" the outlet said, per The Associated Press.
In response, the zoo debunked the false claims and asserted that its sun bears were in fact 100 percent real bears. It did so by writing a social media post from the point of view of Angela, the sun bear in question. "Some people think I stand like a person," the post read. “It seems you don’t understand me very well.”
“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," the explanation continued, per The Guardian. "We Malayan bears are petite, the smallest bear in the world." To help further disprove the conspiracy, the zoo invited journalists to investigate the sun bear for themselves.
It isn't the first time a Chinese zoo has been accused of showing fake animals to the public. In the past, zoos in the country have faced allegations including passing off a Tibetan mastiff as a lion, a Siberian husky as a wolf, and a donkey as a zebra.
Given the high temperatures surpassing 100 degrees Fahrenheit, a human in a heavy bear suit "would not last more than a few minutes before collapsing," according to a zoo spokesperson. The very real bear, however, has to live with the world's rising temperatures, regardless of conspiracy theories.
Poor Angela.
