Jia Jia and Kai Kai – the 2 resident pandas at the River Safari – are arguably the zoo’s most popular animals.
However, visitors who head over to the River Safari in hopes of seeing them might not have the opportunity to do so — at least for the next few days.
On 19 Apr, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) shared on Facebook that the Giant Panda Forest will be closed from 21-26 Apr.
That’s because it’s the mating season for pandas and our favourite animal couple will need some alone time with one another.
If you were to visit River Safari between 21-26 April, you might notice a green sign placed at the entrance to the Giant Panda Forest.
The sign asks visitors to be quiet, explaining that Kai Kai and Jia Jia are “getting beary busy” and that they will be back soon.
These pandas serve up cuteness for their visitors almost every day. So perhaps it’s time for us to panda pander to them, granting them a little privacy this mating season.
The Giant Panda Forest will be closed until 26 Apr.
According to WRS, Jia Jia and Kai Kai are on a 10-year loan from China. They are currently spending their 9th year here. They last mated back in Apr 2020.
This is now the 7th time our panda couple is trying for a little baby panda.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), the pair started mating back in 2015, employing both natural and artificial insemination methods but to no avail.
And getting them to mate is no easy feat.
Kai Kai is known to get distracted, with food always being his top priority.
Zoo keepers have also been prepping Kai Kai by exercising his hind legs.
Sometimes, his hooman caretakers will even screen ‘action movies’ so he gets a better idea of what to do.
Despite all that work, the couple has had no luck so far. Perhaps 7th time’s the charm? Only time will tell.
Making panda babies is an extremely challenging task.
According to National Geographic, this is especially because female pandas like Jia Jia only have a window of about 2-3 days to get pregnant.
Plus, like any love story, the panda pair needs to be compatible. In their case, they even need to be physically compatible for them to mate.
We certainly wish our dear panda couple all the best this mating season.
Hopefully, all goes well and in time to come, we’ll be able to see little pandas creating panda-monium at the River Safari’s Giant Panda Forest.
Plus, what’s cooler than a panda-mic baby?
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and Facebook.
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