A zoo in eastern China announced to arrange reporter’s visits to see its bears after social media users suggested that some of its sun bears could be humans dressed in costumes, The Guardian reported.

The Hangzhou zoo denied that some of the bears at the zoo could be humans dressed in costumes, after video of one standing on its hind legs circulated online.

In a statement published on Sunday from the perspective of Angela, a Malaysian sun bear, zoo said: “When it comes to bears, the first thing that comes to mind is a huge figure and amazing power … But not all bears are behemoths and danger personified. We Malayan bears are petite, the smallest bear in the world.”

Earlier, a video of a sun bear, which was standing on its hind legs had circulated on social. People noted that the bear’s slender legs and folds of fur made it look like a human was acting the part of the bear.

However, in an audio recording circulating on WeChat, a zoo spokesperson called the animal real saying such deception would not happen at a state-run facility.

He went on to add that a human in a fur bear suit “would not last more than a few minutes before collapsing” in the 40 degrees Celsius summer temperature.

A zoo employee said that the officials at the zoo are arranging visits for reporters to see the bears.

Sun bears are the size of large dogs, standing at most 1.3 metres tall on their hind legs, compared with up to 2.8 metres for grizzly bears and other species, according to the zoo.

In the past, other Chinese zoos have been accused of trying to pass off dogs dyed to look like wolves or African cats, and donkeys painted to look like zebras.