Strange Alien-like Creature in Viral Video Confirmed to Be “Naked” Sun Bear
OutdoorHub Reporters 04.08.15
In January, Indonesian plantation workers near the village of Sibu were horrified to find what appeared to be a gaunt, hairless creature with razor-sharp claws and teeth. Believing the creature to be a monster or alien, the workers documented it on camera before driving it back into the forest. According to the workers, the animal even attempted to charge them at one point.
You can see the original video below:
“We were shocked. None of us has ever seen such thing,” a worker told the Borneo Post.
When the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) heard about the bear three months ago, the company sent a team into the jungle to rescue it. After many weeks of fruitless searching, the team was finally able to capture the sickly bear last week.
“She has eaten the food and drank the water we gave,” SFC spokesperson Nickson Robi told Metro. “But she still is hairless and sick, and we need to find out what the sickness is.”
Posted by The Grand Old Lady, Miri – 1910 on Wednesday, April 1, 2015
While fairly small, the creature’s bizarre features and oversized claws made it look intimidating. Experts, however, said the animal was not dangerous, but instead very sick. Upon reviewing the footage, experts confirmed that the animal was in fact a sun bear, a species of black bear native to Southeast Asia. For some reason, the bear had lost all its fur.
The bear was transported to the Matang Wildlife Center near Kuching and will be nursed back to health, if possible. Some have suspected that the hair loss may be caused by some type of mange, which also affects other animals like coyotes. Coyotes with mange in North American have often been mistaken for the mythical Chupacabra, and naturally, many have begun referring to the sun bear similarly as the “Asian Chupacabra.”
Sun bears are one of the smallest bear species, with large specimens growing to just under 200 pounds. Despite this, sun bears have powerful claws and teeth, which they use to open hardwood trees in order to eat insects or honey. The species is currently considered vulnerable under the IUCN Red List.
