One of the U.S. capital’s resident giant pandas may be pregnant, officials at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo said on Monday, but warned fans of the wooly black-and-white mammals not to get baby fever just yet.
Mei Xiang, who was artificially inseminated on March 1, is showing the signs a giant panda would show if she were pregnant.
However, those signs are also identical with the hormonal and behavioral changes of a false pregnancy, a zoo spokeswoman said.
‘Probably within the next month we should know if she is pregnant or if she is pseudopregnant,’ spokeswoman Devin Murphy said. ‘The only way to definitely tell is to see a fetus on an ultrasound.’
Mei Xiang, a female panda, is exhibiting normal behaviors in line with a pregnancy — hormone rise, building a nest, decreased appetite, more sleep, reacting to loud noises — but it is not confirmed and could be a pseudo-pregnancy
Officials closed the Giant Panda Habitat at Washington Zoo to give Mei Xiang some quiet time because she is exhibiting behaviors that are in line with both a pregnancy and false pregnancy
Mei Xiang, whose name means ‘beautiful fragrance,’ has had at least five pseudo-pregnancies during her 18 years at the Washington zoo, where pandas are a top draw for visitors.
Giant pandas are a vulnerable species, with the World Wildlife Fund estimating their numbers in the wild at only 1,864. A few hundred pandas are in captivity, mostly in China.
The zoo said on Sunday that it was closing the indoor part of its David M. Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat to give Mei Xiang a quieter environment after she began showing signs that she might be pregnant.
The zoo says it may simply be a ‘pseudopregnancy,’ where pandas ‘do everything they would if they were pregnant
Giant panda Mei Xiang and her cub Bei Bei are pictured here. Zookeepers haven’t yet been able to confirm the pregnancy and it’s possible Mei Xiang is experiencing a pseudo pregnancy
‘She is building a nest in her den, has a decreased appetite, is sleeping more and is reacting to loud noises,’ the zoo said, adding: ‘Paws crossed!’
Zoo visitors can still see the zoo’s male giant pandas, Tian Tian and Bei Bei, one of Mei Xiang’s three surviving cubs, at the exhibit’s outdoor viewing area, the zoo said.
Mei Xiang, who is almost 20 and nearing the end of her reproductive life cycle, was also artificially inseminated last year, but did not give birth.
Female pandas can become pregnant for only 24 to 72 hours each year, the zoo said.
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived at the zoo from China in December 2000.
Giant panda, Mei Xiang is pictured. Pandas, like several other species, can undergo pseudopregnancies, where they do everything they would if they were pregnant. At the end of a pseudopregnancy, hormone and energy levels return to normal