• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content

Home> Community> Weird

Updated 17:45 31 Jul 2023 GMT+1Published 17:44 31 Jul 2023 GMT+1

Zoo denies allegations star attraction is man in a bear costume

It's an odd-looking bear for sure!

Kit Roberts

Kit Roberts

A zoo has been forced to deny allegations that one of its bears is actually a human wearing a costume.

It's something you might expect to find in an episode of The Mighty Boosh, where one of the characters has to dress up as a monkey to fool a sponsor into thinking the monkey is healthy.

However, Hangzhou Zoo in China has had to issue a bizarre statement clarifying that a bear at the zoo is, in fact, a real bear, and not just an unfortunate employee wearing a bear costume.

Advert

A Sun Bear.
Auscape/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The odd claims arose online after a video was posted on Twitter featuring the bear in its enclosure appearing to interact with the public. One shot, in particular, shows the back of the bear and skin folds at the bottom of its back, just over its bottom.

There is also one which looks at the movements of the bear and implies that they are almost like how you might expect a human to move.

All this is put forward as evidence that the bear is fact an elaborate costume being worn by an employee.

The rumours have gained so much traction online that the zoo has even felt the need to clarify that no, this is actually a real bear. They highlight the high temperatures of 40C which would make heating such a costume unbearable (geddit?) for a human to wear.

Advert

The bear is a species called the sun bear. You may have encountered this particular species online as they are renowned for their unusual appearance.

Sun bears can look a bit odd, with a strange-shaped body and face which does make them look a bit like a puppet. But they are very real indeed.

What do you think?
SHAOXIA33139500/X

Some people pointed out other elements in the video which suggest that the bear is in fact real. One pointed out that the bear's mouth and lips could be seen to be moving very dextrously, which would take an extremely expensive puppet to be able to emulate.

You might even say so expensive you may as well just get a real bear.

Advert

Other videos of Sun Bears online show them engaging in similar behaviour to that shown in the video. One shows a bear standing on its hind legs in the enclosure much like in the video.

That's not to say there's no precedent for zoos to try and pass off things as other animals. In 2019 a zoo in China sparked controversy after it emerged that two keepers had dressed as gorillas and were leaping around the enclosure.

However, with those videos, it's pretty obvious that they're suits.

Featured Image Credit: X/shaoxia33139500

Topics: News, World News, China, Animals

Kit Roberts
Kit Roberts

Kit joined LADbible Group in 2023 as a community journalist. They previously worked for StokeonTrentLive, the Daily Mirror, and the Daily Star.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

12 hours ago
14 hours ago
a day ago
  • 12 hours ago

    People shocked at how ‘relevant’ advice to American soldiers living in Britain during WW2 is today

    Some of the American opinion is surely up for debate

    Community
  • 14 hours ago

    Car salesperson says you should ‘never ever’ test drive a car at a dealership for one reason

    Seems like standard procedure, surely?

    Community
  • 14 hours ago

    Relationship expert explains how to deal with worrying ‘breadcrumbing’ dating trend

    Ever feel like you're being lead on by somebody?

    Community
  • a day ago

    Man sold every one of his possessions and bet whole life savings on a single roulette game

    The Londoner left it all to the very last minute

    Community
  • China responded to worrying satellite image of man-made project NASA said is slowing down the Earth's rotation
  • Zoo slammed after visitors realised ‘pandas’ weren’t what they thought when they started making noise
  • Man comes face-to-face with bear when climbing into pit with 'nowhere to run'
  • Everything we know about where Covid-19 originated as China makes bombshell claim after lab leak allegations