A lifelike polar bear wandered through the streets of the British capital on Tuesday morning (January 27), leaving commuters bewildered at the sight of the unusual acquaintance.

The eight foot tall puppet animal first stunned joggers and caused quite a stir when strolling through the Hampstead Heath Park in North London before making his way to Charing Cross Underground station attempting to board a train. Commuters on the train turned their heads when they noticed the giant polar animal walking along the platform.

It eventually reappeared in between crowds of tourists who were crossing the Thames river via Millennium Bridge towards London's Southbank. Many people stopped to take a picture of the animal with many people commenting how realistic it looked.

"It's a bit of a shock when you first see it. A polar bear walking around in central London, " one woman said.

"It looks very realistic to me. I have to say I feel a little bit nervous standing here with my back to it," another man commented.

Another woman said: "It does look scary. It's pretty big. So when I first came up there was no one around it so I actually did think that it was real."

"I was just speechless. I did, I said -- why is a polar bear here? And I still can't figure out how it looks so real. Is it real," another asked.

The giant animal was unleashed as part of a promotional stunt to mark the launch of channel Sky Atlantic's latest TV offering, "Fortitude"

Prop specialists worked on the arctic animal over a course of eight weeks, using more than 60 different types of material to complete the realistic look.

It is operated by two puppeteers who have studied the movements of real polar bears to make the giant prop animal's movements look a real as possible.

Filmed both in the UK and Iceland, "Fortitude" sees an all star cast including Academy Award nominee Stanley Tucci, Michael Gambon and Christopher Eccleston.

The drama will premiere on January 29 on UK and US television.

Related