( CNN ) -- A giant panda slated to be the star of the first-ever live broadcast of the birth of panda cubs has lost the role -- after it was discovered the bear is not pregnant after all , Chinese state media reported . Not only was it a phantom pregnancy , but zookeepers suspect the panda , Ai Hin , may have been faking it to improve her quality of life , the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding told Xinhua on Monday . Ai Hin , age 6 , had shown signs of pregnancy , including a change in appetite , moving less and an increase in progestational hormone in July , according to Xinhua . But after almost two months , she began acting normally again , zookeepers said . Experts say pandas sometimes carry on the behaviors associated with early pregnancy after noticing that they get preferential treatment , the news agency reported . `` After showing prenatal signs , the 'mothers-to-be ' are moved into single rooms with air conditioning and around-the-clock care , '' Wu Kongju , an expert at the Chengdu base , is quoted as saying . `` They also receive more buns , fruits and bamboo , so some clever pandas have used this to their advantage to improve their quality of life . '' The birth of Ai Hin 's supposed cub and its progress in its early days , from its first cries to acquiring its distinctive black-and-white fur , were due to be broadcast online to panda lovers in China and worldwide . Giant pandas are notoriously reluctant to breed in captivity and pseudo-pregnancies are common . The female is fertile for no more than three days a year , and the time span for a pregnancy is from 80 to 200 days , according to the Chengdu base . Scientists will closely monitor behavioral and physiological signs , but it 's often a guessing game . Even if a pregnancy proves genuine , baby pandas have very low survival rates . According to the Chengdu base , only a third to a half of pandas born in Chinese captivity manage to survive past infancy . There was good news last month , though , when a panda gave birth to a healthy set of triplets in China 's Chimelong Safari Park in the southern city of Guangzhou . The cubs are thought to be the only living panda triplets in the world . Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland thinks its panda , Tian Tian , could be the next to produce a cub , based on the latest scientific tests , but there are no guarantees . `` It is very likely that we will not know 100 % if Tian Tian is pregnant until she gives birth , '' Iain Valentine , director of giant pandas for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland , said earlier this month . As few as 1,600 giant pandas survive in the mountain forests of central China , according to the Smithsonian Institution 's National Zoo in Washington . More than 300 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world , most of them in China .
Giant ##ess Ai Hin had a phantom birth , they reported . The panda was supposed to be the star of the first live broadcast of a human birth . Expert ##ized humans sometimes act pregnant after noticing they need better treatment .