Produced by: Hitansh Gaur
In the Hangzhou Zoo of Eastern China, a human-like bear has been attracting visitors from across the country. The bear stands and waves in such a way that many netizens have argued that it’s not a bear but a man wearing the suit of a bear.
In a viral video, the bear can be seen standing and waving at the visitors. The Chinese zoo authorities have denied claims of the bear being a man in costume and stated that it is a real animal.
Chinese zoo officials have said that this is a 4-year-old Malayan Sun bear named Angela.
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Ever since Angela became famous, the number of daily visitors in the zoo has increased by as much as 30% to 20,000, as per local news media Chao News.
While talking to the local Chinese media, zoo officials have argued that a human cannot stand in a fur suit all day in temperatures which are crossing 40 degree Celsius. A spokesman said, “If a person did wear a bear costume, they would be lying down within minutes due to the heat.”
A visitor told a Hangzhou TV station, "After we saw the video on the Internet, we specially took the high-speed train from Suzhou to come over to see the bear.”
A user on X (fkaTwitter) commented on the viral video, “Once you see it sit down you see it really is a bear. Wild.” While another user linked it to the evolution of the human race as he wrote, “I think it is the missing link. So, we are not monkey descendants but bear related.”
Another X (fka Twitter) user tried to point out that this bear might be malnourished, “It could be a real sun bear that’s badly malnourished and if so that’s absolutely disgusting.” While another user commented that this human-like bear should meet the human dog from Japan, who has been in the news lately.
A Japanese man named Toco spent more than $14,000 to transform into a dog by getting a custom-made collie costume. It took 40 days to make the unusual garment but it has helped the man realise his dream of "becoming an animal”.