If she is indeed carrying a cub, it will be her second with another panda in the zoo, Chuang Chuang, after Lin Ping who was born in 2009.

The vet team is now organising ultrasound tests on the panda, Chiang Mai zoo said at a press conference on Friday.

Dr Boripat Siriarunrat, a director of the Zoological Park Organisation, said if their hopes prove founded, Thailand will have the new panda cub within this year.

Boripat, chief of panda research and exhibition in Thailand, said that the artificial insemination with Chuang Chuang’s semen was carried out on February 4. Regular monitoring and observation of Lin Hui’s condition and behaviour has now led vets to believe she may be pregnant.

“Lin Hui is healthier with good hair and in a better mood. She eats and rests more, sleeping about 18 hours a day. Her level of hormone progesterone increases every day,” he said.

In addition, Lin Hui seems to be looking for a place to become her nest. “Those signs led us to believe that she may be pregnant,” he said.

Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang arrived in Thailand on loan from China in 2003.