Ai Hin
showed all the signs she was expecting but only wanted extra food and the
trappings of celebrity, say keepers
theguardian.com,
AFP, Beijing, Thursday 28 August 2014
Giant panda Ai Hin put on a ‘phantom pregnancy’, possibly because she wanted special treatment, her Chinese keepers say. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty Images |
Hopes that
tiny panda paws would be seen in the world’s first live-broadcast cub delivery
have been dashed after 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 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 “behaviours and
physiological indexes returned to normal”, citing experts saying she
experienced a “phantom pregnancy”.
The
breeding centre, in China’s south-western province of Sichuan, commonly moves
pandas that are thought to be pregnant into single rooms with air conditioning
and around-the-clock care.
“They also
receive more buns, fruits 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. Many continued to
display pregnant behaviour after noticing the difference in treatment they
received, Xinhua said.
Six-year-old
Ai Hin showed reduced appetite, less mobility and a surge in hormones when her
“pregnancy” was first detected, the news agency said, before further
observations concluded it was fake.
The giant
panda’s natural habitat is in the mountainous south-west of China. But they
have a notoriously low reproductive rate and are under pressure from factors
such as habitat loss.
China has
about 1,600 pandas living in the wild and another 300 held in captivity.
“Only 24%
of females in captivity give birth, posing a serious threat to the survival of
the species,” Xinhua said.
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