That's exactly what he was. My point is, there's other reasons a character might look like an animal.
Could just be a Polar Bear zoan.
Pekoms is just strange because he's clearly two animals. So if one is the zoan power, it's just a question of where the other comes from.
If he's just an animal that ate a different Zoan fruit, like they said, he shouldn't be able to talk.
Maybe there's an island with animals that walk on two legs and talks like humans.