BEIJING
China's highly anticipated live panda birth broadcast has been cancelled - a research center telling local media this week that the giant "mother-to-be" was faking her pregnancy.
It is thought she may have been pretending to gain the treats she saw afforded to genuine mothers-to-be.
Xinhua news agency reported that 6-year-old Ai Hin was pulled from the TV show after Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Center announced that she had a "phantom pregnancy" - a situation the general manager of Faruk Yalcin Zoo in the Turkish city of Kocaeli confirmed can occur in many animals.
"Whether mating occurs or not, the fake pregnancy is a natural event that involves instinctual behaviors regarding the desire for offspring and providing nutrition," Yucel Yilmaz told the Anadolu Agency.
"It is generally an issue connected with the hormone prolactin, and can cause an increase in appetite, weight gain, a belly bump, the swelling of breasts, and secretion of milk."
Wu Kongju, a Chinese panda expert, told Xinhua that "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."
China has about 1,600 pandas living in the wild - many in its mountainous southwest - and another 300 in captivity. They have a notoriously low reproductive rate.
* Anadolu Agency correspondent Satuk Bugra Kutlugun contributed to this story from Ankara.
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