It's a boy! Sex of first panda cub born here revealed

The first-ever cub born in Singapore to giant pandas Kai Kai and Jia Jia is a healthy baby boy.

The panda cub was born on Aug 14 at the River Safari after seven attempts by his parents to conceive.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) said yesterday that its panda care team determined the cub's sex through a series of visual assessments.

The WRS team, led by animal care officer Trisha Tay Ting Ni, subsequently confirmed that the baby panda was male after consulting a team of experts from the China Conservation and Research Centre for Giant Panda.

The centre's experts examined photos and videos that were shared by the WRS panda care team and gave their feedback.

Dr Cheng Wen-Haur, deputy chief executive and chief life sciences officer at WRS, said the cub's mother, 12-year-old Jia Jia, has exceeded all expectations in caring for her cub.

Dr Cheng said: "The panda care team has decided to allow this period of maternal care to continue for as long as possible for the duo to strengthen their bond.

"While supporting Jia Jia's care of the cub, we were able to determine the cub's gender through close visual observation and will retrieve the cub for veterinary checks only when the time is right."

The sex reveal was part of Kai Kai's birthday celebrations yesterday. The cub's father turns 14 next Tuesday.

The cub will be given a name before his 100-day milestone on Nov 21, and a judging panel chaired by Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Speaker of Parliament and deputy chairman of Mandai Park Holdings, will oversee the process.

Details on how the public can participate in naming the cub can be found on WRS' website.

The name should be catchy and easy to remember, with positive meanings and attributes, as well as relevance to Singapore's heritage and culture. It must also be significant to the friendship between Singapore and China, WRS said.

The panel will include representatives from academia, the Chinese Embassy in Singapore, relevant government agencies and WRS.

Submissions for the name will close at 11.59pm on Sept 19. The shortlisted names will be released for public voting.

In the past month, the cub has started to develop prominent black markings around the eyes and ears, and on the body. His fur is expected to be fully grown in the next few weeks and he will soon open his eyes.

Jia Jia has also regained her appetite and has resumed eating, albeit slowly. She is now regularly seen munching on her favourite bamboo leaves and is also comfortable leaving her cub unattended for short intervals.

As Jia Jia further settles into her mothering routine, her carers will gradually resume conditioning sessions via positive reinforcement training to prime her for cub retrieval that will allow the care team to conduct checks on the cub.

Such training, conducted regularly since 2015, includes getting Jia Jia to have her back towards the den bars, which allows her keepers to feel around her abdomen where the cub is usually cradled.

Another exercise involves Jia Jia fetching a toy, placing it by the den's bars, and allowing the keepers to retrieve it from her.

WRS said: "All this conditioning helps Jia Jia recognise cues and responses, while increasing her comfort level for the cub to be retrieved by her care team."

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong praised the WRS team for a job well done in a Facebook post yesterday. He said: "As newborn panda cubs cannot see and hear, they rely heavily on their mothers for food and protection.

"Jia Jia has been doing a wonderful job caring for her cub over the past month, and her parenting journey has been supported by the entire WRS team."

Since Jia Jia and Kai Kai arrived in Singapore in 2012, their seasonal mating attempts have been closely watched by the nation.

Giant pandas are known to be notoriously difficult to breed in captivity. WRS previously said it was in talks with the Chinese authorities on extending Kai Kai and Jia Jia's stay beyond next year.

This would allow the WRS team to plan for another breeding attempt for the pandas.