Zoo doctors unsure about panda birth

Veterinarians started to have doubts yesterday about whether Chiang Mai Zoo will welcome a second panda baby after Lin Hui began to appear anxious, had a rise in appetite and others signs that led them to question if she will really give birth. Head veterinarian Boripat Siriaroonrat told a press conference that his team would perform another ultrasound and progesterone test to confirm her pregnancy later yesterday, while also checking her stress hormone level.

'Acting differently'

Since Lin Hui was acting differently than the team had expected, they could not be positive that she would give birth to a cub.

In cases abroad, sometimes a giant panda whose ultrasound test showed an embryo might not give birth and sometimes a giant panda with twin embryos might only have one cub.

There were many variations in Lin Hui's case, so her behaviour pattern didn't indicate a pregnancy failure. She was still lactating. "There is a 50:50 chance Lin Hui will give birth," he said.

The zoo last month reported that Lin Hui was expecting after undergoing a series of artificial inseminations in September and that a new media 'darling' was due this week, so the zoo put the mother on a close watch and prepared a delivery room and cub-care room.