MYSTERY surrounds the sudden weight gain of one of Hayle's most exotic residents – a red panda called Jai-Li who has been piling on the pounds.
The cuddly five-kilo creature has put on a fifth of her own bodyweight in the past few months despite her keepers insisting she hasn't had any more food than her partner Lang-Za.
And if she is pregnant, as everyone at Paradise Park hopes, it will be a genuine case of keeping it in the family – as keeper Donna Sinclair is pregnant too.
But after even an ultrasound proved inconclusive, it looks like until Jai-Li does actually decide to give birth the mystery will continue.
Staff have been monitoring the panda's body weight and even called in a vet for an ultrasound scan, but the cheeky red panda is still keeping them guessing.
Donna, herself due to give birth in August, said: "I've been monitoring her weight since last June when we first got her.
"She's always been a steady weight, around 5kg.
"Her food hasn't changed. She gets exactly the same every day and it's the same as the male and his weight hasn't changed at all.
"We don't think she's fat or anything. We're hoping it's pregnant weight."
Jai-Li is fed on a strictly controlled diet of panda cake – a high fibre substitute meant to replicate the huge amounts of bamboo she would eat in the wild – and fruit like pears, grapes and bananas.
But Donna insists however friendly Jai-Li gets she is never treated to more than she should be.
She said: "We know their breeding season is winter and since January we've seen a steady increase in her weight. She's just tipped over 6kg and she does look a little 'bulgy' round the waist so fingers crossed."
Donna has been training the red panda pair to present their paws and be comfortable being handled so that they can be health checked, and that has also been helpful with the potential pregnancy.
She said: "We actually had the vet in to give her an ultrasound. I had trained her so she presented her tummy and we were able to get the gel on but her fur was too thick to tell if she was pregnant so we still don't know."
Red pandas normally have one or two young but in 2001, Jai-Li's predecessor at Paradise Park, Pandora had triplets and the Park are hoping she might do the same.
She said: "I've got a big interest in red pandas and I've been working with the male for three years.
"They are quite friendly, they do enjoy having contact with their keepers. When I go in they do both come down to see me straight away.
"They are so gentle and so lovely and adorable and it does make them really loveable little characters.
"I weigh her every day but also train her so that she gets used to human contact, making the bond with her. We've got a good relationship and that's important if she does get pregnant so she is comfortable having people around."
The big worry for Donna, 27, who is expecting a daughter, is that she might miss the birth.
"I'm due in August so I'm hoping she will give birth in June or July. Their gestation period is five months so if she got pregnant in January that would fit.
"I live in Hayle so although I'm now on maternity leave, I'm always up there and if she had babies I'd be the first one up there and when I have my little girl she's going to be taken up to meet them."