Ling-Ling Fools Keepers: Panda Isn’t Pregnant

The hopes of panda lovers nationwide and officials of the National Zoo here have been deflated in recent days by strong indications that Ling-Ling, one of the zoo’s celebrated giant pandas, is not pregnant after all.

Earlier this summer, the zoo had prepared for the arrival of a panda cub that it hoped would become the first successfully raised in captivity in this country. However, veterinarians confirmed Monday that Ling-Ling no longer is exhibiting tell-tale elevated hormone levels and nursing behavior, indicating that what she had experienced was a “pseudopregnancy.”

“Certainly, it’s a major disappointment,” Lisa Stevens, zoo collections manager, said. “As the years go by, we become more and more concerned about Ling-Ling’s health and worry that we may not have more chances.”

Too Old to Reproduce

Zoo officials fear that Ling-Ling, 19, and her mate, Hsing-Hsing, 18--both old by panda standards--may be reaching the end of their reproductive years. Nevertheless, Stevens said, if Ling-Ling comes into heat next year, the zoo will try again to breed the pandas.

In the 16 years since the pandas were given to the zoo as a gift of the Chinese government, there have been no healthy panda cubs. Ling-Ling has had two false pregnancies and also given birth to four cubs that were either stillborn or died shortly after birth. This summer, zoo veterinarians had prepared an extraordinary plan of medical support to save the cub from the inadequate antibody levels that had helped doom previous cubs.

Until two weeks ago, they said, Ling-Ling showed every sign of being a healthy, pregnant panda, exhibiting high hormone levels and cradling objects in her arms as she would her cub. Since then, they said, her behavior had gradually returned to normal.

On Monday, the zoo made the diagnosis official by reopening the “panda house,” which was closed two weeks ago when Ling-Ling began showing signs that birth was imminent.