Key Factors
- Social media customers had speculated that the solar bears at Hangzhou Zoo had been people in disguise.
- The strategies had been fuelled by a video that confirmed a bear standing on its hind legs and waving its entrance legs.
- Specialists say this behaviour shouldn’t be uncommon for solar bears.
Specialists have debunked strategies {that a} zoo in China is disguising people as solar bears after a video sparked hypothesis on social media earlier this week.
The video, taken at Hangzhou Zoo, exhibits a bear standing on its hind legs in an enclosure and waving its entrance legs as guests look on.
Some customers recommended the bear’s actions and folds of fur indicated it might be a human in disguise.
The zoo launched a press release reassuring guests the bears had been actual.
Wildlife biologist and tropical forest ecologist Wong Siew Te, founding father of the Bornean Solar Bear Conservation Centre, has no doubts the bear in query – named Angela – is actual.
“It’s a bear for certain, it is an actual bear, not any person dressed up in a solar bear go well with,” he mentioned.
“This bear stands up straight like people, and it appears very human-like, however it’s a solar bear. That is what solar bears do.”
Wong mentioned the bear’s actions within the video mirror how the species behaves within the wild.
In captivity, it might be a tactic to attempt to get meals.
“When solar bears wish to examine the environment, they may arise and lift their head excessive up, sniff the air and attempt to decide up scents, so it is no massive deal,” he mentioned.
Hangzhou Zoo in japanese China denied strategies a few of its bears is perhaps folks in costumes after images of the animals standing like people circulated on-line. Supply: AAP / Weng Xinyang/AP
“In zoos, if the bears get guests’ consideration, perhaps the guests will give them meals … by repeating constructive reinforcement, they know so long as the bears arise straight and wave their fingers, and get consideration, they will get meals,” Wong mentioned.
“It exhibits you the bears are very clever.”
Lesley Small is a senior carnivore keeper and has labored with solar bears for over 30 years.
She mentioned the solar bear within the video is “undoubtedly” actual.
“They stand like that if they need one thing,” she mentioned.
Small mentioned solar bears will arise in the event that they wish to attain one thing, if they’re fearful about predators or threats, or to get a greater sense of odor, sound, or sight.
She agreed with Wong’s principle of meals and constructive reinforcement.
“This lady was standing up as a result of she would have been begging or asking for meals,” she mentioned.
“It turns into a little bit of a behavior at occasions to get consideration … they try this to entice their viewers to provide them a reward.”
Small mentioned the unfastened pores and skin proven within the video can be a traditional trait of solar bears.
“They’re the world’s finest tree-climbing bears, so to have all of that floppy pores and skin allows them to have the ability to attain branches and be tremendous versatile,” she mentioned.
“That floppy pores and skin is a part of their make-up to have the ability to survive within the forest and be capable to climb timber the best way they will do.”
Solar bears are the world’s smallest bear species and some of the uncommon.
In line with a 2019 report by the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the solar bear inhabitants has decreased by an estimated 35 per cent over the previous 30 years.
The IUCN says solar bears are additionally one of many least-known bear species and have solely been the topic of a “small handful” of research.
Wong mentioned the accusations of “people in disguise” demonstrates the shortage of common information about solar bears.
“They’re by far the least identified bear on this planet, and this story showcases how little we all know concerning the solar bears.”
