‘Pregnant’ panda’s false alarm as zoo reveals she’d just eaten too many buns
Phantom pregnancy forces Chengdu base to call off what would have been world's first live broadcast of cub birth
Hopes that tiny panda paws would be seen in the world’s first live-broadcast cub delivery were dashed on Tuesday when Chinese experts suggested the “mother” may have been focusing more on extra bun rations than giving birth.
The slated star of the show, giant panda Ai Hin, had last month shown signs of pregnancy at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Centre, according to state news agency Xinhua.
A live broadcast of the event was planned, but Xinhua said her “behaviour and physiological indexes returned to normal”, citing experts saying she experienced a “phantom pregnancy”.
The breeding centre, in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan, commonly moves pandas which are thought to be pregnant into single rooms with air conditioning and round-the-clock care.
“They also receive more buns, fruit and bamboo, so some clever pandas have used this to their advantage to improve their quality of life,” Wu Kongju, an expert at the base told Xinhua.
Phantom pregnancy is said to be common among the endangered animals, and many bears continue to display pregnant behaviour after noticing the difference in treatment they receive, Xinhua said.