Giant bear abandoned as cub becomes popular model

We're all looking for more diversity in the modeling industry, that much is certain. But this model genuinely is unlike any you've ever seen before.

Meet Stepan, a gigantic bear who hails from Russia. Although he was tragically left abandoned as a cub, the furry beast has managed to attain unlikely celebrity status in his home country, by working as a professional ursine model.

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According to a recent report by The Sun, the 28-year-old Kamchatkan brown bear belongs to a couple called Svetlana and Yuri Pantileenko, who routinely rent the animal out to photographers for photoshoots.

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Stepan was has been raised around humans all is life, and so is uncommonly friendly and gentle, and has worked with (human) models from as far afield as Thailand, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Israel.

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However, his owners are aware that getting him cranky is definitely not a good (or safe) idea, and so they limit his working hours to a mere half an hour per day.

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The brown bear has been a symbol of the Russian federation for generations and is featured in the logo of the United Russia party, which has maintained prominence since the early 2000s.

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Indeed, this might explain why Stepan is so popular in Eastern Europe. The bear's official Instagram account currently boasts over 165,000 followers as of the time of writing, and his many fans are always quick to comment when new footage of him appears.

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According to a report by the Russian branch of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Kamchatkan brown bear is one of the most widely distributed species of large carnivores in the world, but their populations have been threatened by human interference.

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Males are usually far bigger than Stepan, sometimes weighing up to 110 stone, and boast the distinction of being among the largest bear species in the world.

Their heavy girth comes from an ample food supply of salmon, pine nuts, and berries, which grants them enough fat to survive the punishing winters they spend asleep in their dens until spring.

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In their natural habitat, Kamchatkan brown bears tend not to roam too far. Per the WCS, they sometimes maintain a home range as small as 12 sq km over the entire year, which makes them better suited to living in relative captivity compared to other bear species.

But if you want to get up close and personal with some of these amazing animals, it might be easier to stay in a hotel where you can sleep within mere inches of them, rather than go to the trouble of booking a photoshoot.