Asian Black Bear Becomes Kung-Fu Elite [NEWS]

The animal world can be an odd place. News recently surfaced that an Asian Black Bear kept at Asa Zoo, Japan has learnt to spin and flip a stick in such a way that he looks like a professional martial artist. Video footage (shown below) has allowed the bear, named Claude, to show off his skills to the world. I'm pretty sure if Jackie Chan died and was reincarnated as an animal, this would be the result.



When the footage was first released, many were led to question whether it was real or not. Major news companies such as CNN and CBS sent journalists to investigate the rumour and to their surprise, the Bear's antics really turned out to be genuine.

Zookeepers at Asa Zoo originally decided to give Claude a stick to help combat boredom. Clearly, there's nothing particularly exciting going on in a square, fenced-off enclosure. Who'd have thought it? Over the span of 8 years, the nimble bear developed a talent for - Stick-spinning? Not sure what to call it, really. During an interview with The Telegraph, Professor Marc Bekoff (an animal behaviour expert) stated, "I would guess this [behaviour demonstrated] is the result of extreme training and it would be hard to believe the animal taught itself this spontaneously".

Clearly there is still indecision as to whether the bear was taught these tricks or not. Still, I'm not fussed about that. I'm just certain I don't want to get on the wrong side of Claude.