Singapore gets first panda cub, born to Kai Kai and Jia Jia at River Safari
SINGAPORE – The nation’s first panda cub was born on Saturday (Aug 14) at the River Safari at about 7.50am, to parents Kai Kai and Jia Jia.
In a statement on Sunday, Wildlife Reserves Singapore called the birth “a joyful boost to the ongoing National Day celebrations this year”, adding that the panda cub’s gender is yet to be determined and will be announced later.
Meanwhile, mother Jia Jia and her cub are in an off-exhibit den to give them time to nurse and bond, it said.
The successful birth comes after the giant pandas’ seventh breeding season. They began mating in 2015.
Giant pandas are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, in part due to the narrow window for conception. Females like Jia Jia ovulate only once a year, and her fertility also peaks for just 24 to 36 hours.
WRS said 13-year-old Kai Kai and 12-year-old Jia Jia displayed signs of being in heat in April this year.
It added that its animal care team was optimistic that the pandas would naturally breed this year, as the pair had shown improvements in their mating techniques the year before.
Experts from the China Conservation and Research Centre for Giant Panda (CCRCGP)advised WRS vets to perform artificial insemination before the end of Jia Jia’s receptive period, to make the most of the once-a-year breeding season.
The procedure was carried out by WRS’ in-house veterinary team, using frozen semen collected from Kai Kai before the mating season.
Dr Cheng Wen-Haur, WRS’ deputy chief executive and chief life sciences officer, said ultrasound scans done in July showed a thickening of Jia Jia’s cervix and some fluid in the uterine horns.
“We stayed hopeful for Jia Jia, while maintaining her ultrasound checks to monitor developments,” he added, noting female giant pandas can experience pseudopregnancy – where they show hormonal and behavioural signs of pregnancy even when they are not expecting.
Dr Cheng said the only sure way to confirm a pregnancy is through seeing a foetus that is near to term.
On Aug 10, a WRS vet saw a clear outline of a foetus with a strong heartbeat on ultrasound.
“Jia Jia’s first pregnancy and birth of a cub is a significant milestone for us in the care of this threatened species in Singapore,” said Dr Cheng. “The work continues now with supporting the first-time mother to raise her newborn cub.”
Kai Kai and Jia Jia had arrived in Singapore in September 2012, on a decade-long loan from China.
Sponsored by real estate company Capitaland, they are one of the River Safari’s main attractions.
Under the agreement, the baby panda will return to China when it turns two, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Baey Yam Keng in a comment on his Facebook post about the birth.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he was delighted by the birth of the panda cub, and congratuated the WRS team.
He wrote on Facebook: “It is famously difficult for pandas in captivity to reproduce. Pandas have only a narrow window each year to conceive.
“This is the seventh attempt for Kai Kai and Jia Jia. Their keepers deserve kudos for this difficult and rare accomplishment, and for persevering despite previous failures.”
