The live broadcast of a panda giving birth was cancelled after it was revealed that the panda may have faked its own pregnancy to receive better treatment in captivity.

Giant Panda Faked Pregnancy For Food

The giant panda, Ai Hin, resides at the Chengdu Breeding Research Centre in China, and was given 24-hour care, more food and air conditioning when she began to show signs of pregnancy. While some reports suggest that Ai Hin tricked her handlers into giving her more attention, others posit that the panda actually experienced a phantom pregnancy – common among giant pandas.

Ai Hin began showing signs of pregnancy this summer, but her behavior and tests reportedly normalized after two months of observation, leading experts to believe that Ai Hin learned that, if she exhibited signs of fatigue and reduced appetite, essentially mimicking pregnancy symptoms, she would be awarded special treatment.

“After showing prenatal signs, the ‘mothers-to-be’ are moved 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,” revealed Wu Kongju, an expert at the Centre.