A CHINESE zoo's supposed "African lion" has been exposed as a fraud when the dog used as a substitute started barking.

The zoo in the People's Park of Luohe, in the central province of Henan, replaced exotic exhibits with common species, according to the state-run Beijing Youth Daily.

It quoted a customer surnamed Liu who wanted to show her son the different sounds animals made - but he pointed out that the animal in the cage labelled "African lion" was barking.



The beast was in fact a Tibetan mastiff - a large and long-haired breed of dog.



"The zoo is absolutely cheating us," the paper quoted Liu, who was charged 15 yuan ($2.70) for the ticket, as saying. "They are trying to disguise the dogs as lions."



Three other species housed incorrectly included two coypu rodents in a snake's cage, a white fox in a leopard's den, and another dog in a wolf pen.



The chief of the park's animal department, Liu Suya, told the paper that while it does have a lion, it had been taken to a breeding facility and the dog - which belonged to an employee - had been temporarily housed in the zoo over safety concerns.



Users of China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo service mocked the zoo.



"This is not funny at all. It's sad for both the zoo and the animals," said one.



"They should at least use a husky to pretend to be a wolf," said another.