Owner Pavel Vyakin playing with his bear Tima in a video clip that went viral this week.
An online video starring an adorable brown bear named Tima performing with its Samara-based owner is drawing cheers across cyberspace.
The video, uploaded to multiple YouTube pages over the last few days, has drawn hundreds of thousands of viewers impressed by Tima's human-like ability to sit on a chair, play a horn, swing a hula hoop and even make a rude gesture with its, um, shaggy arms.
The three-minute clip opens with owner Pavel Vyakin introducing himself and calling out to the bear, prowling some distance way in a grassy field: "Tima, come here, come here!"
The bear obediently runs up to Vyakin with a loping gait.
Vyakin then leads Tima though a series of tricks, using commands like "sit!" (the bear first sits on the grass and later in a yellow, plastic chair that looks like it can barely support its weight) and "give it to me!" (the bear drops a horn from its mouth into Vyakin's outstretched hand.)
But perhaps attracting the most "awwwws" from viewers are the moments when the bear throws his furry arm around Vyakin's shoulder, snuggling up to his master in what appears to be an affectionate embrace.
While the video might leave the impression that Vyakin and Tima live together like a man and his dog, Tima in fact is a professional animal actor, according to Vyakin's Facebook page and Spanish-language website. The bear has traveled around the world, appearing in circuses, at football games, in advertisements and on the big screen.
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