The Internet rumors that someone in a zoo in Henan pretends to be a black bear to solicit customers? The staff laughed and cried: it was a real bear

On February 27, Zhoukou, Henan, the black bear in the local wildlife world was suspected by some tourists of being "pretending to be a person" because its movements were too humane, which triggered heated discussion among netizens. Some tourists posted online that the bears in the zoo are all played by humans, "because these bears move exactly like humans." In the face of questioning, the staff of Zhoukou Wildlife World cried and laughed, and immediately denied the statement, and the staff said that these black bears are animals and not human disguises, "Black bears have a high IQ, and some action behaviors are indeed a bit like people."

<h4>Further reading:</h4>

<h4>Chengdu Zoo black bear is too smart to be suspected of being a man pretending, zoo: real bear! </h4>

Recently, a black bear in Chengdu Zoo was on Weibo hot search because it stood and waved like a person, and was suspected of being "pretending to be a person". On January 6, Red Star News reporters traveled to chengdu zoo to find the black bear and its keepers. The black bear, named Zhou Zhou, is more than three years old this year and came to the rescue in the wild.

"It's natural for a black bear to stand, and it's not a natural thing to wave like a human." Zhou Zhou's breeder Li Yan introduced that the black bear Zhou Zhou is very smart, waving like a human, should be imitating tourists. It will hand tourists to feed food, so that after repeated many times, gradually groping for the law, it will form a conscious conditioned reflex. Including waving and congratulating, to a large extent, the bear's unnatural behavior is "trained" by the tourist's incorrect feeding method.

Black bear waving looks very interesting, but Li Yan strongly urges tourists not to feed food, "black bears have a fixed meal time every day, tourists feeding food will not only affect their normal eating, but also feed food may carry germs, in addition, if the animal accidentally eats plastic bags and other packaging, it will endanger their life safety."

Standing is a natural act, required for wild predation and fighting

Waving is the result of "training" that tourists do not properly feed

On the morning of January 6, the reporter saw Zhou Zhou, a black bear who waved like a human in an online video and was suspected of being a person pretending to be a person, in Xiongshan, Chengdu Zoo. Zhou Zhou is more than three years old this year, female, is an Asian black bear, rescued from the wild when she was very young, with a trademark white crescent on her chest. At present, there are more than ten bears in the bear area of Chengdu Zoo, including Asian black bears, brown bears and Malay bears. There were fewer tourists that morning, and whenever there was a noise when tourists approached the playground, Zhou Zhou and the two Malay bears next door would walk to the side of the sports field close to the crowd.

Zhou Zhou didn't wave like in the video, but it and both Malay bears walked closer to the tourists and stood in the direction of the tourists. "It's natural for a black bear to stand, it's not a natural thing to wave like a human." Li Yan said that the bear's paws are very similar to humans, with five toes, and when walking, the soles of the feet touch the ground and can stand like humans. When they encounter an enemy fight in the wild, they will stand upright with their hind limbs and use their forelimbs to hit the enemy. At the same time, bears are omnivorous animals, mainly based on plant feeding, in the wild, they will directly eat grass, leaves and other foods on the ground, and will also stand up and hang branches on the front paws to eat fruits.

The bear's movements sometimes look very similar to people.' But zhou zhou waving like a human is not a natural behavior. Li Yan said that Zhou Zhou waved like a human, probably imitating tourists. The bear is very smart, and Zhou Zhou's current intelligence is roughly equivalent to that of a three- or four-year-old child. When it waves, the tourists feed its food, let it taste the sweetness, and the action of waving gradually becomes a habitual action of it facing the tourists. Usually, the breeder will also do some behavioral training on them to form some conditioned reflexes.

"Including things like sometimes tourists falling into the playground, need to call the bears back to the animal house to pick them up; and physical examinations require them to cooperate with the blood draw." Li Yan said that the keepers usually carry out some behavioral training for animals, so that animals can better adapt to captive conditions, establish a relationship of trust with breeders, learn to master cooperative behavior, and bring convenience to animal physical examination. In training, the keeper will not use punishment, but will guide the animal to use their brains to actively think about doing some actions to get rewards, including their preference for food or toys. After behavioral training, animals are more willing to take the initiative to cooperate with breeders and doctors to do physical examinations for themselves.

Zhou Zhou has received "recall" training. Although the bear is cute, it is a ferocious animal and must be isolated. In daily life, if there are tourists whose things, such as mobile phones, fall into the bear sports field, they need to be picked up by the keepers, and the bears in the sports field need to be taken back to the inner chamber. The keeper will send out recall signals including "knocking on the door, whistle", etc., and when the animal hears it, it understands that it needs to return to the inner chamber. Li Yan said that Zhou Zhou waving is not the content of behavioral training, including everyone seeing the waving and doing congratulations and other actions, to a large extent, it is "trained" by tourists in an incorrect feeding method.

Zoo bears do not hibernate, gluttony due to the habit of "hoarding grain"

Feeding can affect the meal and even lead to death

In order to eat, Zhou Zhou also opened the "strongest bear brain" mode. Li Yan analyzed that Zhou Zhou waved his hand on the one hand because of intelligence, and another important reason was gluttony. On the same day, the reporter saw in Bear Mountain that the smaller Malay bears stood begging for food for tourists, but they had not yet mastered the move of waving. Why do these bears look so hungry, and aren't they full? Li Yan said that bears are gluttonous because they are not full. Keepers feed twice a day at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Each meal is nutritionally balanced, with vegetables, fruits, and steamed every day with soybean flour, milk powder and other one-pound nest heads. In addition, considering the characteristics of bear omnivorousness, it is also specially equipped with pellet feed containing chicken powder and beef powder.

The meal is full, why are they still so gluttonous? Li Yan explained that bears are gluttonous because bears have special physical characteristics. With the exception of Malay bears, bears in the wild generally hibernate. Before winter comes, bears will eat a lot of food to accumulate fat. Thick fat forms a layer of insulation. If humans also eat like bears, it will definitely cause a series of disease problems. When the bear is hibernating, the metabolic waste generated can enter the regeneration cycle, which also avoids the waste from accumulating into harmful substances, which can ensure the supply of protein in the bear's body, and these physical characteristics of the bear are also widely valued in medicine.

So keep eating, it can be said that it is a bear's instinct. Zoo bears do not hibernate because they do not lack food, and the temperature is not very low. Although it does not hibernate, in the winter, the bears in chengdu zoo spend most of their time sleeping in artificial caves. In addition, bears are gluttonous, in fact, like people, they like to eat snacks. But for bears, the harm of snacking is not only to affect the normal diet, the harm is far greater than everyone thinks, and even endangers their lives.

In the process of being interviewed, Li Yan repeatedly appealed that tourists should not feed animals. In addition to disrupting the animal's normal eating habits, bears eat too many "snacks" without nutrients, and are prone to diarrhea or indigestion. At the same time, the pathogenic bacteria carried by humans will be transmitted to animals through the food they eat. In addition, if the animal accidentally eats packaging products such as plastic bags, the most serious may lead to its death. Zhou Zhou's waving gesture looks cute, but there is a lot of risk behind it. It is hoped that the majority of tourists will abide by the zoo regulations and do not feed animals.

<h4>(Original title: The network spread that Zhoukou Wildlife World people pretended to be black bears to solicit customers, and the staff cried and laughed: it was a real bear).</h4>

<h4>Source: North Evening New Visual Synthesis China Net Red Star News</h4>

<h4>Process Edit: TF021</h4>