Look how much you've grown, baby
It has been a month since the birth of Singapore's first panda cub. The Sunday Times looks at how life has been for the son of Kai Kai and Jia Jia
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DAY 4, AUG 17:Giant panda mum Jia Jia cradles her cub as it suckles contentedly. The baby arrived on Aug 14 at 7.50am. Since her baby's birth, Jia Jia has focused her energies on caring for it - nursing and licking it - but appears exhausted at times.
Tomorrow marks the full-month celebrations of Singapore's first panda cub, born on Aug 14 at the River Safari.
The long-awaited birth came after the giant pandas' seventh breeding season. Dad Kai Kai, 13, and mum Jia Jia, 12, began mating as far back as 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 peaks for just 24 to 36 hours.
Experts from the China Conservation and Research Centre for Giant Panda advised veterinarians from Wildlife Reserves Singapore to perform artificial insemination, using frozen semen collected from Kai Kai, to make the most of Jia Jia's breeding season. Finally, the conception was a success.
The yet-unnamed cub has been confirmed to be a boy. Meanwhile, mum and baby are in an off-exhibit den to give them time to nurse and bond in privacy.
Here is a behind-the-scenes look at baby panda's first 30 days.
