The sun bears at the National Zoo and Aquarium are enjoying more than their place in the sun in the wake of that viral video in which a Chinese zoo was accused of putting people in a bear suit.
The zoo in Canberra also says more people in the last few days have been stopping by to see the sun bears as the video from China is discussed and dissected by people around the world.
The video, of sun bears in a zoo in eastern China, raised suspicions about the authenticity of the animals, as the bears stood on their hind legs and appeared to wave at the crowd
The sagginess of the bears' skin also raised concerns it was actually a costume. But keepers at the zoo in Canberra say sun bears, in general, simply exhibit human-like behaviour and believe the animals in China are definitely the real deal.
Keeper Serena Robbie said the Canberra zoo had two sun bears, Arataki, who is 23-years-old and Otay who is 19-years-old. They are also the parents of the sun bear Mary who now lives at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.
"I definitely saw the video [from China]. It is definitely a sun bear, I can tell you that now. The characteristics definitely do resemble a sun bear," Mrs Robbie said.
"These guys do spend a lot of time standing up, so they do stand on their back feet and look like people and that's one of the comments we do get a lot from the public, is that they look like people in suits. But they're definitely not. They're definitely sun bears."
Mrs Robbie said she had seen the sun bears in Canberra stand up and "wave".
"I mean, you could call it waving or you could call it 'Bring me my food please'. So, generally, Arataki standing up is saying, 'I'm ready for food' and he'll put his arm up. So it's generally him asking for something rather than waving."
In the video, the bears' saggy skin at the rear prompted people to believe it was a person in a too-big suit. But the excess skin was there for a reason.
"It's actually an adaptation the species has formed to defend themselves," Mrs Robbie said. "So if something comes up to attack them from behind, it means they can actually spin around in their skin, 180 degrees, and they can fight back ...They've got it around their necks and they've got it around their whole body, just that excess skin."
The viral video has this week seen more people visiting the zoo.
"We have had a lot of hype about it which is actually amazing because sun bears are actually vulnerable out in the wild, so it's an amazing opportunity for us to be able to talk about these guys to shed some light on them a little bit," Mrs Robbie said.
Sun bears were sought after by some cultures for soup or medicines and the zoo was committed to helping save them from that fate. "We really want to help sun bears out in the wild and we support an organisation called Free the Bears which rescues bears from bear trades and poaching overseas," she said.
Sydney visitors Peter and Jenny Nielsen came to the zoo specifically to view the sun bears after seeing the video from China. Mrs Nielsen said the visit had convinced her the ones in China were real.
"I do believe now," she said, with a laugh.
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