Experts have offered up their theories to explain why a “human-like” bear was seen standing and waving just like a person in a costume.
Bizarre footage of the fuzzy creature greeting visitors at a zoo in China has sparked a host of speculation and conspiracy theories.
Sun bear Angela made headlines across the world after being filmed standing tall on her hind legs and waving enthusiastically, The Sun reports.
But her friendly welcome has sparked a social media frenzy that has left the Hangzhou Zoo dogged by claims it was a human in a very convincing bear suit.
Amateur sleuths alleged that costume-clad workers were being sent into enclosures instead of creatures they had come to see.
Suspicious social media users said the animal’s saggy skin looked more like “baggy trousers” than a bear’s backside.
Experts have now shared their take on the viral clips — and say there is actually a simple explanation for the strange sight.
Dr Wong Siew Te, a Malaysian wildlife biologist, said he “didn’t know whether to laugh or cry” at the online frenzy over Angela.
Armed with a wealth of knowledge from his studies on the Malayan sun bear, he confidently declared that she is definitely not human.
Dr Wong told the Mirror: “There is no doubt that it is a sun bear.
“I currently have four rescue sun bears in my centre and it shows that people know very little about them.
“Although their faces do not look like primates, their body definitely looks very much like primates.”
But he admitted he had a similar train of thought the first time he saw a female sun bear walking on her hind legs while holding a cub.
Dr Wong continued: “I saw this and was like: ‘Wow and yes it looks like a human’s wearing a bear suit’, but this is just sun bear and that is what is amazing.”
He explained the species have the urge to stand tall from infancy to explore and learn more about their environment — especially in a zoo.
As the Hangzhou Zoo allows visitors to feed the animals, the bears will be pulling out all the stops to gain the attention of passersby.
Discussing the bear’s wave, Dr Wong added: “This is a very big issue because sooner or later they learn this is a positive reinforcement.
“When they stand up, when they get human attention, when they wave their hand, they will get food.
“Once they know that, when they do that, they will do it more and more. And also this is a zoo from China and China, in the past, made up fake stuff.
“All in all, it creates a perfect storm to come up with the story that this is a human wearing a bear suit to a Zoo in order to attract crowds.”
Other bear boffins have also chimed in on the debate, debunking conspiracy theories about Angela and her species.
Dr Ashleigh Marshall, from Chester Zoo, told the BBC she was “definitely a real bear”.
She confessed that sun bears do often “look a lot like people in their costumes”, but her saggy skin was actually a defence mechanism.
The expert explained the loose skin around the hips is normal and helps them to turn around more easily so as to better fight predators.
Animal rights organisation PETA also chimed in on the debate and urged people to have more compassion for zoo animals.
‘The bear you see here likely came from a circus’
It said in a Twitter post: “It’s sad to see the amusement this footage has provoked.
“The bear you see here likely came from a circus where trainers chain bears to a wall and force them to stand on their hind legs for hours.
“If they can’t hold themselves up, they risk choking and hanging themselves.”
The Hangzhou Zoo also penned a response from the perspective of four-year-old Angela, saying humans “don’t understand me very well”.
“When it comes to bears, the first thing that comes to mind is a huge figure and amazing power … But not all bears are behemoths and danger personified.
“We Malayan bears are petite, the smallest bear in the world.”
They also claimed that a human inside a heavy costume would never survive the soaring summer temperatures of around 40C.
The establishment has seen a boom in visitors following the viral videos, with 20,000 people reportedly heading to see her each day.
Qian Ming told local media he had travelled over 240km by train across China to see the bear.
“We travelled overnight last night to get here,” he said.
Other zoos in China have previously faced accusations of trying to pass off dogs dyed to look like wolves or African cats and donkeys painted to look like zebras.
This story originally appeared on The Sun and is republished here with permission