Family 'puppy' grows up to be bear

(RNN) - A Chinese family got more than they bargained for when they adopted a pet. 

The puppy grew up to be a 250-pound bear.

Two years ago, Su Yun adopted a puppy, the Independent said, but was surprised at its voracious appetite - “A box of fruits and two buckets of noodles every day,” she told Chinese media.

Not only did the "dog" not stop growing, it developed a talent for walking on two legs.

The family thought the dog was a Tibetan mastiff. Wildlife experts said the creature is really an Asiatic black bear.

“The more he grew, the more like a bear he looked,” Yun said.

Once they realized their dog was, in fact, a bear, they called the Yunnan Wildlife Rescue Center, who sedated the bear and took it into their care. 

The Asiatic black bear is considered a vulnerable species hunted illegally for its parts, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 

The case of mistaken identity awed people on Twitter.

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