Bears that look suspiciously human are circulating online after a zoo in China denied using a person in a costume instead of a real bear

• Earlier this week, a zoo in China denied rumors that one of its bears was a human in a costume.
• The video in question became a meme on social media due to the bear's human-like stance.

Bears behaving like people are continuing to capture the attention of the internet after a zoo in China denied that one of its sun bears was actually a human in a suit.

Screenshots and clips of a sun bear at Hangzhou Zoo in eastern China standing on its hind legs went viral last week. The Chinese newspaper Hangzhou Daily reported that some internet users questioned whether the bear was real or a human wearing a costume, according to the Associated Press.

According to the AP, Hangzhou Zoo made a statement on its social media account on July 31, appearing to deny the accusations.

"Some people think I stand like a person," the statement, which was written from the animal's perspective, read. "It seems you don't understand me very well," it continued.

The zoo's statement was widely reported on and circulated on social media, causing widespread amusement among online users who continued to debate whether they thought the bear was real, sparking a few memes in the process.

Now, more bears looking bizarrely human-like are circulating and going viral.

On August 1, the Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire, UK, shared a TikTok of a sun bear standing up on its hind legs and looking around, which received 2.4 million views.

The park said in the post's caption that they can "confirm" the animal in the clip is a real sun bear, but a number of commenters said they still felt its stance was oddly human-like.

"It's a Sus Bear not a Sun Bear," one user wrote, using the slang term to indicate they were jokingly suspicious.

Another UK zoo in Edinburgh, Scotland, joined in on the joke by sharing a picture of a standing sun bear named Rotana on their Instagram account.

"We can confirm that Rotana IS a sun bear… ," a caption on the post, which received 4,142 likes, read.

Sun bears, the smallest species of bear which are native to tropical forests in Southeast Asia, sometimes stand on their hind legs as part of their natural behavior, according to a post on the Paradise Wildlife Park website. Doing this can help the bears "smell far-off objects," or have a "greater view of their surroundings," according to the Park's post.

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