From the BBC:
A zoo in eastern China has reassured visitors its sun bears are real rather than humans in disguise, after footage of one animal standing like a person sent rumours flying online.
(You know it’s the real BBC because they said “rumours.”)
First off, there’s no way sun bears exist, all Chinese bears are Panda bears and everybody knows this. Second, let’s take a look at the footage in question:
Oh.
Oh wow.
That really does look like a human in a bear suit.
Wikipedia tells us that sun bears are, in fact, real, and that they’re native to Southeast Asia. Unclear if any live in China, unclear how wrinkly is wrinkly for a sun bear’s butt. Of the other bears in bear world, they’re most closely related to black bears, and they’re generally rather small. 55 to 143 pounds. (Oddly specific, but that’s kind of Wikipedia’s thing.)
More from the BBC:
Dr Ashleigh Marshall, an expert from Chester Zoo, says the animal in the video is “definitely a real bear”- although she concedes sun bears do often “look a lot like people in their costumes”.
Asked on the BBC’s PM programme about the ruffled appearance of the bear’s skin around its rear end, she said this is a normal and very important feature of its anatomy.
The folds help protect the bears from predators, as the looseness allows the bear to “turn around in their skin” and fight back if a large animal like a tiger were to get hold of them, Dr Marshall explained.
Ok, that’s fair, who am I to quarrel with Dr. Ashleigh Marshall, an expert from the Chester Zoo.
Although…
Per Sky News, the zoo has started pushing back against claims it is putting human beings in bear suits and making them pretend to be bears, and they aren’t exactly making the most convincing case:
“Our zoo is government-run, so that kind of situation would not happen,” a member of staff said, in posts on its official WeChat account and in interviews with local media on Monday.
Feel like you don’t mention the Chinese government part if you’re a zoo trying to convince patrons your bears aren’t fake. That has me a lot more suspicious.
