A zoo in eastern China had to reassure its visitors that their sun bears are not secretly people dressed in bear costumes after images of one standing on its hind feet as if it were a person circulated social media.

The footage – captured by baffled visitors at Hangzhou Zoo, in Zhejiang Province – shows a sun bear perched up on a tall rock in the middle of its enclosure facing dozens of tourists.

With the bear standing upright on its slender hind legs and its front paws loosely hanging by its torso, the animal had zoo goers wondering if it is real.

Despite it returning on all fours immediately after it sat back down, its posture had many convinced it was actually a human wearing a costume.

The footage quickly went viral on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, with thousands of users questioning whether they were seeing a part-timer earning some vacation money.

Hangzhou Zoo staff later denied the rumours and claimed that what people were seeing is an actual sun bear behaving in its typical way.

The bear is called Angela and has lived in the zoo since 2020, staff added.

The sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) is a species that primarily inhabits the tropical forests of Southeast Asia.

Typically standing at less than 30 inches (76 centimetres) long and weighing between 55 to 140 pounds (25 to 63 kilogrammes), the sun bear is the smallest of its kind and no bigger than a large dog.

Aside from their small size, they are most recognisable for their cream-coloured chest patch that resembles a rising sun, which is where they get their name from.