Footage from Thai Zoo Shows Sun Bears Standing Up Like Chinese Zoo Bears Accused of Being Human

A video showing a Malayan sun bear standing upright in a Thai zoo recalls the stance of the Chinese zoo bears recently accused of being humans dressed in costumes. 

The footage distributed by the Associated Press shows a sun bear standing on its hind legs at the Tha Lat Open Zoo in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. 

In the clip, while upright, the black-colored bear appears to wave and nod as if directly greeting zoo visitors. 

Another shot from the video later shows the bear doing the same thing before it returns to a crawling position and roams inside the enclosure. 

According to National Geographic, sun bears, one of the smallest members of the bear family, are found in the forests of Southeast Asia. The animal's moniker comes from "the bib-shaped golden or white patch on their chest."

The human-like stance of the bear at the Thai zoo parallels that of the sun bears at China's Hangzhou Zoo. The animals were recently recorded in a viral video standing upright, drawing speculation that they were actually people disguised in bear costumes.

The Hangzhou Zoo denied the rumors via a statement written from the perspective of one of the bears accused of being human, per the Associated Press: "Some people think I stand like a person. It seems you don't understand me very well."

A spokesperson for the Chinese zoo explained that a person dressing as a bear would not be permitted in the state-run facility, and added someone dressed in a bear costume would collapse in eastern China's recent bout of extreme summer heat, reported The Guardian.

The viral clip of the bear at the Hangzhou Zoo has generated various opinions on social media, with one user writing: "Looks more like a bear on all fours, but it definitely looks like a person."

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Another commenter remarked: "Bears can stand upright, they copy behavior from people after a long time. Plus I haven't seen anyone in an animal suit that actually tries to catch a snack with the mouth, then to pick it up with his mouth and actually eat it. People gotta stop with the conspiracies."