Chinese Zoo Denies Bear Is Really A Guy In A Costume After Viral Video Arouses Suspicion

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One of my favorite videos in the history of the internet involves a zoo in China that harnessed an unconventional strategy to tend to giant pandas while trying to ensure they didn’t develop any attachments to the humans tasked with caring for them: dressing up in costumes that resemble the animals.

While those disguises may do a perfectly adequate job when it comes to tricking a species that isn’t exactly known for its superior intelligence, I have a hard time imagining there are many people out there who have trouble differentiating those zookeepers from the real, actual animals they’re attending to.

However, we’ve been treated to another story out of a zoo in China that falls all the way on the other end of that spectrum.

This strange saga comes courtesy of Hangzhou Zoo, which is home to a number of Malaysian sun bears that reside in one of its habitats—or at least that’s what they want you to believe.

According to ABC News, the zoo has found itself at the center of a pretty bizarre rumor stemming from a video of one of the bears standing on its hind legs that recently made the rounds online, as plenty of people who watched the clip were convinced it didn’t actually feature a bear but rather a human dressed up in a costume thanks in no small part to some seemingly suspicious folds on its lower back.

The outlet reports Hangzhou Zoo was forced to release an official statement where it shut down speculation the bear is not, in fact, a bear by noting the species tends to be around the same size as a typical human and stressing there’s no way employees would be able to endure the 104°F heat they’d be subjected to while inside a costume.

Occam’s Razor would suggest the zoo is telling the truth, but on the flip side of the coin, that’s also exactly what a zoo that doesn’t want you to know its masquerading human beings as bears would say.