Singapore’s first giant panda cub born to Jia Jia and Kai Kai on 7th attempt

SINGAPORE — The nation welcomed its first giant panda cub at the River Safari on Saturday (Aug 14), after Jia Jia and Kai Kai finally succeeded in their seventh breeding season that began in April.

The gender of the cub, which weighs in at about 200g, has yet to be determined and will be announced later, the Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) announced in a press release on Sunday.

Kai Kai, 13, and Jia Jia, 12, arrived in Singapore in September 2012. They are here on a 10-year loan from China.

Jia Jia and the cub are now in an off-exhibit den so they can nurse and bond.

Giant pandas are notoriously difficult to breed and have a narrow window once a year to do so. Last month, their conservation threat status improved from endangered to vulnerable.

WRS said that the cub would be a “joyful boost to the ongoing National Day celebrations this year”, while Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a Facebook post that he was delighted with the birth.

“Their keepers deserve kudos for this difficult and rare accomplishment, and for persevering despite previous failures. Congratulations to the team at WRS for this success, as well as for breeding many other endangered species in their care,” Mr Lee added.

Dr Cheng Wen-Haur, WRS’s deputy CEO and chief life sciences officer, said that ultrasound scans in July showed a thickening of Jia Jia’s cervix and some fluid in her uterine horns.

Female giant pandas show all the hormonal and behavioural signs of pregnancy even when they are not expecting, Dr Cheng added, which meant the only confirmation was the “visualisation of a foetus near to term”.

This happened last Tuesday when a vet picked up, on ultrasound, a clear outline of a foetus with a strong heartbeat.

Jia Jia was artificially inseminated with semen collected from Kai Kai before the mating season, in order to make the most of the narrow breeding season, WRS said.

The window of opportunity for a successful mating had dwindled quickly, despite optimism that the pair would naturally breed this year. They had shown improvements in their mating techniques the year before, WRS added.

Dr Cheng said: “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. This is the result of good animal care, assisted reproductive science and sheer perseverance on the part of our staff coupled with valuable advice from the China panda experts.

“The work continues now with supporting the first-time mother to raise her newborn cub.”

As part of the original agreement with China Wildlife Conservation Association, in line with WRS’ commitment to the conservation of endangered species, the cub will be sent back to China when it is two years old.