Panda in Taiwanese zoo accused of faking pregnancy to get better living conditions

A panda in a Taiwanese zoo is believed to have faked pregnancy in order to obtain better living conditions.

The panda, Yuan Yuan, showed the typical symptoms that the bear subspecies usually experiences during the early stages of pregnancy, such as a loss of appetite, thickening of the uterus and increased faecal progesterone concentration since the middle of June.

Such is the rarity of new panda births, that when females do finally fall pregnant, they are given round the clock pampering such as an air conditioned room during summer and more food to ensure the wellbeing of a potential new born.

Workers at Taipei Zoo had believed that the 11-year-old panda, which was given as a gift along with another panda, Tuan Tuan, in 2008, had conceived when she was artificially inseminated on 26 March, according to China.org.

In the past, highly intelligent pandas have been known to fake pregnancy in order to secure better conditions, such as Ai Hin in 2014.

Yuan Yuan most likely knew what was in-store for her if she was pregnant, having given birth to her only cub in 2013.

However, the pregnancy conditions that she were exhibiting are return to normal.

According to the WWF, there were just 1,864 giant pandas alive in the wild in 2014 with the World Conservation Union stating that there are 300 left in captivity.