Were two men really detained for claiming two male pandas were gay?
A giant panda eats at Chongqing Zoo in China. (Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A giant panda eats at Chongqing Zoo in China. (Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
If you look on social media, you’re likely to see posts claiming two men were allegedly detained after saying two male pandas were gay.
Well, this time the online chatter appears to be true.
As reported by the Global Times, an English-language Chinese news outlet and part of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party publication People’s Daily, two men were detained for fabricating news that two male giant pandas had successfully mated in the wild for the first time.
It reports that in a statement released on Sunday (18 January), the Chenghua branch of Chengdu Public Security Bureau said police launched an investigation after receiving public reports of online accounts spreading the false claim.
The investigation led to two men, Dong, 29, from Huludao city in Northeast China’s Liaoning Province, and Gao, 33, from Hangzhou in East China’s Zhejiang Province, being found to have deliberately distorted facts.
According to the authority, the men, who allegedly aimed to attract online attention, fabricated a news screenshot titled: “Chengdu: two male Sichuan giant pandas successfully mate in the wild for the first time.”
The pair allegedly posted the fake news online, with the statement adding that it caused “widespread false interpretations” disrupted “online order” and produced “negative social impact”.
Dong and Goa were placed under administrative detention and their online accounts were shut down.
Despite the fact the male giant pandas in Chenghua, where the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, a world-leading conservation centre, is located, are not engaging in same-sex activity, many animals have been proven to do so.
A study, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, found that 59 nonhuman primate species have been seen to take part in same-sex activities.
It is suggested that the same-sex behaviour developed through evolution to help primates reduce conflict and build bonds in complex social groups.
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