A new video showing a sun bear at a Chinese zoo waving to visitors has added fuel to allegations the animal is actually human in disguise.
Hangzhou Zoo in China was forced to confirm its four-year-old sun bear “Angela” was a real bear, after photos and footage of the animal standing on its hind legs went viral.
Now, a 12-second clip shows the bear standing on its hind legs again and appearing to wave twice to zoo visitors as one yells out “hello”.
The footage comes as a zoological expert in the UK told the BBC the animal in the first viral footage was definitely a real sun bear.
Dr Ashleigh Marshall, an expert from Chester Zoo did concede, however, that sun bears do often “look a lot like people in their costumes”.
Marshall told the BBC the loose skin on the bear’s back, which viewers took to be evidence of an ill-fitting costume, was actually an anatomical feature of the sun bear which allowed them to protect themselves against predators.
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The loose skin helped the bear to “turn around in their skin” and fight back if an animal like a tiger grabbed them, Marshall said.
People are keen to judge for themselves, with visitor numbers at Hangzhou Zoo surging by 30 per cent at the zoo since the story began trending on Chinese social media over the weekend, Zhejiang province-based Chao News reports.
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