Officials called off the live broadcast of a giant panda giving birth because, as it turns out, she wasn't actually pregnant.
Ai Hin, a 6-year-old giant panda living at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Center in China, had exhibited signs of pregnancy for two months. But the center realized she actually had a "phantom pregnancy," state news agency Xinhua reported.
The life of a pregnant giant panda living in captivity sounds pretty sweet, relatively speaking. She gets her own suite loaded with amenities such as air-conditioning, around-the-clock care and a serious supply of buns, fruit and bamboo. According to Xinhua, pandas with phantom pregnancies sometimes notice the nicer set-up that comes with initial signs of pregnancy and carry on with the charade.
"So some clever pandas have used this to their advantage to improve their quality of life," panda expert Wu Kongju told Xinhua.
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 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.
Anyway, I think pandas are very clever. This one just faked it to get a better life, I don't blame her. We shouldn't use her as a breeding tool (though if pandas want to keep existing they sort of need to hurry up to have kids).
