The world's first live broadcast of a panda cub delivery was called off Tuesday after Chinese experts suggested that the "mother" may have been faking the pregnancy to receive better treatment, The Independent reported.
The slated star of the show, giant panda Ai Hin, had shown signs of pregnancy at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Centre last month, including reduced appetite and mobility in July, at which point she was chosen to star in a heavily publicized first-ever live birth, according to state news agency Xinhua.
But when her "behaviors and physiological indexes returned to normal" after two months, experts determined it to be a "phantom pregnancy."
"'Phantom pregnancies' are common among giant pandas - but keepers at her breeding center in Sichuan province believe 6-year-old Ai Hin could be exhibiting learned behavior that marks her out as smarter than the average bear," according to The Independent.
The breeding center, in China's southwestern province of Sichuan, commonly moves pandas who 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.
However, not all "fake" pregnancies among the animals are just down to hormonal changes, Kongju explained. After noticing the difference in treatment they receive, many bears continue to display pregnant behavior, Xinhua said, adding that phantom pregnancy is common among the endangered animals.
China has about 1,600 pandas living in the wild and another 300 held in captivity. "Only 24 percent of females in captivity give birth, posing a serious threat to the survival of the species," according to Xinhua.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland thinks its panda, Tian Tian, could be the next to produce a cub, based on the latest scientific tests, but there are no guarantees, CNN reported.
"It is very likely that we will not know 100 percent if Tian Tian is pregnant until she gives birth," Iain Valentine, director of giant pandas for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said earlier this month.
