She hasn’t been seen vomiting in the morning or craving for some exotic dish at midnight, but caretakers of Jia Jia, River Safari’s beloved giant panda, have reason to believe that she’s pregnant.
Giant pandas are classified as endangered, with only 1,600 left in the wild, and are notoriously difficult to breed.
In April Jia Jia was artificially inseminated after an unsuccessful mating attempt with Kai Kai that lasted 40 minutes (check out these photos). The two reached sexual maturity this year, so it was both their first time. Sweet!
Since the insemination, Jia Jia has been eating less bamboo, sleeping more, spending more time in her den and her hormone levels are increasing — all signs consistent with pregnancy or pseudopregnancy.
According to WRS, giant pandas commonly display pseudopregnancies and experts worldwide are often not able to determine pandas’ pregnancy status until a late stage.
Vets and keepers have been conducting weekly ultrasound scans in an attempt to detect a foetus, but the results have been inconclusive.
They will continue with the tests since the gestation period for a giant panda is typically five months, and the foetus only starts to develop a few weeks before birth.
Jia Jia quietly celebrated her 7th birthday this morning, and Kai Kai (pictured below), who turns eight on Sep 14, was also presented with a cake which he enjoyed in the company of 30 pre-school kids from PCF Zhenghua.
The pandas’ birthdays will be marked with a Panda Party Week from Sep 5 to 13. Both will receive daily treats as a form of enrichment.
Our original title was ‘OMG is Kai Kai pregnant?’ Caretakers seem to think so’. We’re pretty sure the answer’s no, because Kai Kai (above) is a male giant panda. Sorry, dude.
