Panda mating season at the River Safari is almost upon us — perhaps third time’s the charm

Jia Jia eyeing Kai Kai. Photo: Wildlife Reserves Singapore
Jia Jia eyeing Kai Kai. Photo: Wildlife Reserves Singapore

Giant pandas Jia Jia and Kai Kai are looking forward to happy times as their annual mating season nears. Typically occurring from March to May, this year’s season marks the third try for the River Safari’s furry creatures. Kai Kai, 10, and Jia Jia, 9, first attempted to make babies in 2015, but both natural mating and artificial insemination methods proved unsuccessful.

Now that the couple is displaying signs of courtship behavior — and vets have signed off on a clean bill of health for both of them — the keepers are doing their best to stimulate the pandas’ mating instincts. For example, their exhibits were swapped last November — this was done two months earlier than previous mating seasons to encourage hormonal changes as the pandas scent one another. The keepers are also varying the temperature and daylight hours at the Giant Panda Forest to imitate the seasonal transition from winter to spring of their hometown in Sichuan, China.

Once the keepers and vets notice that Jia Jia’s oestrogen level has dipped, the two will be removed from their exhibits for three days (so visitors won’t be able to see them) to encourage baby-making sessions in the dens. Should this fail, the vets will go with Plan B: artificial insemination.

Female giant pandas only have a small window of 24 to 36 hours to get pregnant, so here’s hoping their third time’s the charm.



Reader Interactions

Leave A Reply


BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on