Sun bears: Chinese viral video of ‘human-in-a-suit’ bear sparks new interest in the species as Australian zookeeper explains why they have floppy skin
- Aussie zookeeper reveals reasons behind sun bears’ sagging skin
- She said it’s there to help them protect themselves in the wild
An Aussie zookeeper has given his take on the viral video debate over the Chinese bear, explaining that the species has the “saggy skin” that led people to believe it was a human in an animal suit to allow them to move nimbly when they are threatened.
Serena Robbie of the National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra said sun bears seen in the viral vision last week display naturally human traits.
Angela the sun bear amazed people around the world after images of the humanoid zoo animal first surfaced at Hanzhou Zoo in eastern China, leading onlookers to wonder if the bear was really a person in a costume.
The camera angle showed an image of fur hanging around Angela’s butt — what many believed looked like a person in costume.
The Canberra Zoo has two sun bears on site – Arataki, 23, and Otay, 19 – and both have attracted a surge in visitors in the wake of the circulating video.
Angela the sun bear stunned people around the world after images of the humanoid zoo animal first appeared (pictured)
The camera angle showed an image of loose fur hanging around Angela’s butt — making it look like a costume to many
Ms Robbie said the bear in the Chinese vision, standing, begging for food and waving like a person, “definitely” looked like a sun bear.
“These guys spend a lot of time standing, so they stand on their hind legs and look like people,” she told the Canberra times.
“That’s one of the comments we get a lot from the public, that they look like people in suits. But they certainly aren’t. They are definitely sun bears,” she said.
She explained that the floppy skin is an evolutionary quirk the species acquired in an attempt to defend itself in the wild.
“So if something attacks them from behind, it means they can turn 180 degrees in their skin and fight back,” Ms Robbie said.
She said they also had the excess skin around their neck and all over their body.
Footage of the waving bear in the Chinese video also added to the bear’s fire as a human in a suit.
But Mrs. Robbie said that ‘waving’ is the bears’ way of getting food.
She said the recent increase in visitors to see the bears has given the zoo an opportunity to promote the plight of the “vulnerable” species in the wild.
They have been kept in captivity in Asian countries where bile is regularly extracted from their gallbladders for profit.
The Canberra Zoo has two sun bears on site – Arataki, 23, and Otay, 19 – both have attracted a surge in visitors in the wake of the circulating video (pictured, one of the sun bears at Canberra’s National Zoo and Aquarium)
“These guys spend a lot of time standing, so they’re on their back feet and look like humans,” said Canberra zookeeper Serena Robbie (pictured)
Ms Robbie said the zoo supports Free the Bears – an organization that rescues bears from this type of trade and poaching abroad.
Now tens of millions have seen footage of the bear clumsily trying to catch food thrown into the enclosure by visitors before resigning itself to perching on a rock.
The zoo quickly dismissed claims that the animal was dressing up, insisting that such deception would not happen in a state-run zoo.