Panda Believed To Have Faked A Pregnancy To Get Extra Food
- 10 years ago
It’s believed that one clever panda took notice of the special treatment given to expecting mothers and faked a pregnancy to cash in on the perks.
Pandas have a very low reproductive rate, so when one gets pregnant while living at a zoo, keepers tend to shower her with all sorts of extra attention.
It’s believed that one clever bear at facility in Chengdu, China took notice of the way things worked and faked a pregnancy to cash in on the perks.
One day the 6-year-old panda started to move around less. She also didn’t seem to have much of an appetite.
As those are among the telltale signs of being pregnant, the staff got pretty excited.
They reportedly moved her to a private air-conditioned room and started to make plans for what would have been the world’s first live broadcast of a panda birth.
While they did that, the pretend mother-to-be likely enjoyed a generous selection of biscuits, bamboo, and fruit, as that’s the usual spread put out for those expecting.
Once the pregnancy tests came back, however, her scam was exposed.
Pregnant pandas get the royal treatment as less than 25 percent of captive females successfully deliver offspring.
The animal’s population in the wild is under 2000, and the species in general is considered endangered.
Pandas have a very low reproductive rate, so when one gets pregnant while living at a zoo, keepers tend to shower her with all sorts of extra attention.
It’s believed that one clever bear at facility in Chengdu, China took notice of the way things worked and faked a pregnancy to cash in on the perks.
One day the 6-year-old panda started to move around less. She also didn’t seem to have much of an appetite.
As those are among the telltale signs of being pregnant, the staff got pretty excited.
They reportedly moved her to a private air-conditioned room and started to make plans for what would have been the world’s first live broadcast of a panda birth.
While they did that, the pretend mother-to-be likely enjoyed a generous selection of biscuits, bamboo, and fruit, as that’s the usual spread put out for those expecting.
Once the pregnancy tests came back, however, her scam was exposed.
Pregnant pandas get the royal treatment as less than 25 percent of captive females successfully deliver offspring.
The animal’s population in the wild is under 2000, and the species in general is considered endangered.