Faculty experts shed light on news that makes us go, “wha?”

The short answer is no, a panda can’t do this deliberately. Pseudopregnancy is a condition caused by specific neuro-hormonal stimuli that are not under voluntary control. The system can be deceived into reacting as if the panda was pregnant, but this deception can’t be done voluntarily. If specific behaviors are involved, the picture changes. For instance, if belly rubbing were hypothetically a sign of pregnancy in a panda, then the panda could learn to belly-rub in order to get rewards. But, although certain brain circuits can be trained by classical conditioning, the circuitry involved in pregnancy and pseudopregnancy cannot be.