Is that a human in costume? Chinese zoo insists its sun bear is real – National | 24CA News
A Malayan solar bear named Angela dwelling in a Chinese zoo has been the topic of a lot chatter after a video of her circulating on-line led to viral hypothesis that she is definitely a human sporting a bear costume.
The elevated consideration from the video has brought on guests to flock to the zoo to catch a glimpse of the newly minted web star.
A video of the bear standing on her hind legs whereas interacting with crowds round her enclosure rapidly went viral after observers identified the bear’s unusual look and behavior. The bear stands fairly near the onlookers and strikes her arms virtually as if she’s waving.
The foremost cause why persons are skeptical concerning the authenticity of the bear is its behind — extra particularly, its wrinkled backside. The seen folds of pores and skin when the bear stands up within the video resemble what a human would appear to be whereas sporting ill-fitting pants.
A screengrab of a viral video exhibiting a solar bear in a zoo in China, which sparked debate about whether or not the bear was actual or a human in a dressing up.
Global News
The unique video of Angela the bear that sparked discourse was posted to Douyin, the Chinese model of TikTok, on July 27. A couple of days later, amid a flood of headlines and on-line chatter, the Hangzhou Zoo was pressured to return out with a press release denying its bear is a furry imposter.
In a posting written from the bear’s perspective on Sunday, the zoo dismissed the rumours.
“Some people think I stand like a human, and it seems that you don’t understand me that much,” the posting reads.
“I got a call after work yesterday from the head of the zoo asking if I was being lazy and skipped work today and found a human to take my place,” the assertion reads. “Let me emphasize again: I am a sun bear — not a black bear, not a dog — a sun bear!”
Sun bears are the dimensions of huge canines, standing at most 1.3 metres tall on their hind legs, in contrast with as much as 2.8 metres for grizzlies and different species, in accordance with the zoo. Native to Southeast Asia, solar bears are most simply recognized by the patch of brilliant orange or cream-coloured fur on their chest.
According to 1 wildlife biologist who spoke to NBC, the animal is “a sun bear for sure.”
“Sun bears could be very human-like,” says Wong Siew Te, the founding father of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Malaysia. “They stand like humans and walk like humans.”
Te added that solar bear moms even carry infants with their palms as they stroll on their hind legs.
When Angela the bear will get again down on all fours within the video, the wrinkles on her behind disappear.
Global News
As Angela the bear’s viral star has risen, so too has attendance on the Hangzhou Zoo, the place she lives.
Visitors numbers have elevated by 30 per cent to about 20,000 a day, with some folks travelling in a single day to see her, native Chao News reported.
“After seeing this bear standing up on the internet, I wanted to see how it looks in real life, so I came here,” mentioned a person surnamed You, who mentioned he had solely half-believed the video he noticed on-line.
“After we saw the video on the internet, we specially took the high-speed train from Suzhou to come over to see the bear,” one other customer, Qian Ming, advised a Hangzhou TV station. “We travelled overnight last night to get here. The bears are so cute.“
In interviews with local media, the zoo has stated that Angela is “definitely not a human.”
“Our zoo is government-run, so that kind of situation would not happen,” a member of workers mentioned. “The temperature in the summer is nearly 40 degrees, if you put on a fur suit, you certainly couldn’t last more than a few minutes without lying down.”
— With recordsdata from Reuters
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
