The Tainan fake panda incident refers to an incident at a private zoo in Tainan, Taiwan, where a sun bear was painted black and white and falsely presented to visitors as a Giant Panda. The bear was first unveiled on 24 December 1987, and quickly drew skepticism as experts were not permitted to enter the enclosure, and the pattern of spots on the fur appeared to change. The Tainan District Prosecutors Office sent investigators on December 31, suspecting fraud. By 3 January 1988, officials from the Council of Agriculture, and zoology experts from National Taiwan University and Normal University determined the animal was not a true panda.
This incident made popular the use of the term "(giant) cat bear" [(dà)māoxióng, (大)貓熊] instead of "(giant) bear cat" [(dà)xióngmāo, (大)熊貓] to refer to pandas in Taiwan.