Is This Chinese Zoo Bear Real or Human? Zoo Says it's a Bear

Zoo animals go viral for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they do cute or funny things. Others, they might be involved in something not-so-pleasant, like an attack on humans. This week a zoo animal in China has attracted international attention for a less conventional reason – zoogoers believe that one of the bears is actually a human in a bear costume. 

The Hangzhou Zoo in China has experienced a 30 percent increase in visitors after videos and photos have gone viral of a bear standing up on two feet. Many are convinced the bear is actually a worker in a costume. 

As many as 20,000 people a day are visiting the zoo, in hopes of catching a glimpse of Angela the Malayan Sun Bear, who bares an uncanny resemblance to a human. 

People are coming from all over, even thousands of miles away, to see the bear. "After seeing this bear standing up on the internet, I wanted to see how it looks in real life, so I came here," a man who gave his name as Mr You told a news outlet.

The zoo vehemently denies that Angela is anything but a bear. "I'm Angela the sun bear – I got a call after work yesterday from the head of the zoo asking if I was being lazy and skipped work today and found a human to take my place," a statement from the zoo reads.

"Let me reiterate again to everyone that I am a sun bear – not a black bear, not a dog – a sun bear!" it continued. "Some people think I stand like a person. It seems you don't understand me very well."

They also pointed out that extremely hot temperatures would make it pretty unbearable for a person to spend the day in a hot bear suit. "In the summer, temperatures can rise to nearly 40C. If a person did wear a bear costume, they would be lying down within minutes due to the heat," it said.