Recently, a sun bear from the Hangzhou Zoo became an internet sensation due to its uncannily “human-like” behavior, even leading to suspicions that it might be a person in a bear costume. Although the zoo staff have denied these “allegations”, the event continues to generate interest both domestically and internationally. The story has been covered by news programs in Australia, New Zealand, and other countries, with some presenters unable to contain their laughter and even engaging in debates about whether it’s a person or a bear. In the UK, another zoo released a video of a standing bear, implicitly referring to the Hangzhou bear as a sun bear, thus adding a dash of humor to the situation.
According to earlier reports, a viral video showed the sun bear standing and interacting with visitors. When food was thrown into its enclosure, the bear immediately opened its mouth to catch it. If the food landed on a rock, it promptly bent over to eat.
In response to online speculation that the bear was a human in costume, Hangzhou Zoo staff emphasized, “It’s definitely a real animal, not a person pretending. Our zoo is state-owned, so such a situation would never occur. Given the summer temperature of 40 degrees Celsius, a person in a fur suit would collapse in minutes.”
This event sparked heated debates online, and the sun bear’s fame has even reached international levels, with media coverage in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, the US, South Korea, and others, including CNN.
In New Zealand, a female news anchor reporting the zoo’s denial of a person masquerading as a bear incited laughter from her co-host. Unable to hold back her own giggles, she requested, “Mike, don’t laugh yet.”
By the end of the clip, the male co-anchor appeared to be wiping tears of laughter, voicing his personal opinion, “This is not a bear.” To which the female anchor responded amidst laughter, “Alright, I think it’s a bear, you think it’s not.”
The story also caught the attention of neighboring Australia. On Channel 7’s morning news program, “Sunrise,” the hosts found themselves drawn into the “man or bear” debate after viewing the clip.
In particular, host Matt Shirvington was convinced it “definitely was a human,” while co-host Eddy vehemently disagreed, stating it was “absolutely not a human.” Amidst the heated debate, host Mark Beretta joked, “I wonder if anyone brave enough would jump in and peel off its skin.” Co-host Nat Barr laughed heartily, suggesting, “We can simply wait and see if its pants will fall off.”
In the UK, Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire recently uploaded a video of their own sun bear named Kyra, stating, “We can confirm that Kyra is a sun bear.” The hashtag “#china” indicated a clear reference to the Hangzhou Zoo incident.
However, the park explained that sun bears often exhibit human-like behaviors, such as standing on their hind legs, but these are natural behaviors, not the result of training or human imitation. The reason sun bears stand up like this, they explained, might be to survey their surroundings and protect their territory.
In the ongoing debate, besides the human-like appearance when standing, netizens are generally focused on the bear’s wrinkled buttocks, which they take as “evidence” of a person in a costume.
In response, Hangzhou Zoo stated that the sun bear loves to interact with visitors and that when lying down, its skin tightens. But when standing with straight legs, the skin on its buttocks relaxes, causing wrinkles. Ashleigh Marshall, an expert at Chester Zoo in the UK, also explained that these wrinkles increase the bear’s agility, allowing it to turn more easily and respond quickly if attacked.
It’s worth noting that sun bears are the smallest members of the bear family, measuring 100 to 150 cm in length, with tails 3 to 7 cm long, and weighing between 30 to 80 kg.
According to Jiang Zhi, deputy director of the Hangzhou Zoo, unlike the black bear’s white ‘V’ marking, the sun bear has a distinctive ‘U’ shape on its chest, resembling a bib. The mark looks like a sun from afar, which is why its English name is the ‘sun bear.’