Key Points
- Social media users had speculated that the sun bears at Hangzhou Zoo were humans in disguise.
- The suggestions were fuelled by a video that showed a bear standing on its hind legs and waving its front legs.
- Experts say this behaviour is not unusual for sun bears.
Experts have debunked suggestions that a zoo in China is disguising humans as sun bears after a video sparked speculation on social media earlier this week.
The video, taken at Hangzhou Zoo, shows a bear standing on its hind legs in an enclosure and waving its front legs as visitors look on.
Some users suggested the bear’s movements and folds of fur indicated it could be a human in disguise.
The zoo released a statement reassuring visitors the bears were real.
Wildlife biologist and tropical forest ecologist Wong Siew Te, founder of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, has no doubts the bear in question – named Angela – is real.
“It is a bear for sure, it’s a real bear, not somebody dressed up in a sun bear suit,” he said.
“This bear stands up straight like humans, and it looks very human-like, but it is a sun bear. This is what sun bears do.”
Wong said the bear’s movements in the video mirror how the species behaves in the wild.
In captivity, it could be a tactic to try and get food.
“When sun bears want to investigate the surroundings, they will stand up and raise their head high up, sniff the air and try and pick up scents, so it’s no big deal,” he said.
Hangzhou Zoo in eastern China denied suggestions some of its bears might be people in costumes after photos of the animals standing like humans circulated online. Source: AAP / Weng Xinyang/AP
“In zoos, if the bears get visitors’ attention, maybe the visitors will give them food … through repeating positive reinforcement, they know as long as the bears stand up straight and wave their hands, and get attention, they’ll get food,” Wong said.
“It shows you the bears are very intelligent.”
Lesley Small is a senior carnival keeper and has worked with sun bears for over 30 years.
She said the sun bear in the video is “definitely” real.
“They stand like that if they want something,” she said.
Small said sun bears will stand up if they want to reach something, if they are worried about predators or threats, or to get a better sense of smell, sound, or sight.
She agreed with Wong’s theory of food and positive reinforcement.
“This girl was standing up because she would have been begging or asking for food,” she said.
“It becomes a bit of a habit at times to get attention … they do that to entice their audience to give them a reward.”
Small said the loose skin shown in the video is also a normal trait of sun bears.
“They are the world’s best tree-climbing bears, so to have all of that floppy skin enables them to be able to reach branches and be super flexible,” she said.
“That floppy skin is part of their makeup to be able to survive in the forest and be able to climb trees the way they can do.”
Sun bears are the world’s smallest bear species and one of the most rare.
According to a 2019 report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the sun bear population has decreased by an estimated 35 per cent over the past 30 years.
The IUCN says sun bears are also one of the least-known bear species and have only been the subject of a “small handful” of studies.
Wong said the accusations of “humans in disguise” demonstrates the lack of general knowledge about sun bears.
“They are by far the least known bear in the world, and this story showcases how little we know about the sun bears.”
