Belgium: female panda Hao Hao of Pairi Daiza park possibly pregnant

Female giant panda Hao Hao is seen in Pairi Daiza animal park in Brugelette, Belgium, 05 April 2014. [Photo/IC]

The animal park Pairi Daiza in Belgium announced Wednesday that Hao Hao, the female giant panda on loan from the Chinese authorities, could be pregnant.

Hao Hao was artificially inseminated in February with the semen of the male panda Xing Hui through the park's participation in a breeding program of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. The team at Pairi Daiza, supported by Chinese experts, expressed their satisfaction of this successful initiative.

The wildlife park in Brugelette in western Belgium said Wednesday in a statement it was "pleased to announce that our female panda Hao Hao now displays signs of pregnancy."

If the pregnancy is confirmed, the birth of the baby panda is expected by the beginning of summer.

Tania Stroobant, a panda health care specialist, also saw signs in the behavior of Hao Hao that she might be pregnant: "For several weeks, she ate twice the normal amount of bamboo, then she gradually lost interest in the food and started to refuse to come out of her cave. The scientific analysis received in recent days has been in line with our observations."

Only an ultrasound would certify that Hao Hao is expecting a little one, but trainers from Pairi Daiza prefer to abstain from this in order not to increase the expectant mother's stress.

Births in zoos for this endangered species is very rare. Around the world, China included, only 30 babies are born on average each year (a total of 242 since 2008), while there are only around 2,000 giant pandas living in the wild in the mountains of central China.

Hao Hao and Xing Hui are a pair of giant pandas given on loan by the Chinese authorities in February 2014 to Pairi Daiza for 15 years.