River Safari's Giant Pandas Kai Kai and Jia Jia Draw Closer to 72 Hours of Love

This will be the pair’s third attempt at natural mating;
Visitors will not be able to see giant pandas for three days during the mating season. 

ABOVE: Jia Jia takes an interest in Kai Kai (foreground). With the arrival of the giant panda mating season, visitors to River Safari’s Giant Panda Forest can expect to see Kai Kai and Jia Jia displaying courtship behavior. PHOTO CREDIT: WILDLIFE RESERVES SINGAPORE

SINGAPORE – Ahead of the annual giant panda mating season—which typically occurs from March to May—veterinarians have given both River Safari’s giant pandas Kai Kai and Jia Jia a clean bill of health during their annual check-up last month. The annual health check included x- rays of Jia Jia’s abdomen, a collection of urine samples and a dental and eye check.

Jia Jia undergoing an eye check by vet ophthalmologist Dr. Rui

This will be the giant pandas’ third attempt at natural mating, and visitors at the park may observe some intriguing courtship behavior from the pair from now till May. As early as February, Kai Kai and Jia Jia have shown early signs that the mating season was coming soon.

Ten-year-old Kai Kai and nine-year-old Jia Jia entered the mating season for the first time in 2015 but both natural mating and artificial insemination had been unsuccessful. For the coming mating season, keepers have fine-tuned techniques to stimulate their mating instincts.

Jia Jia looking for Kai Kai on the other side of the crossing gate

Kai Kai and Jia Jia’s exhibits were first swapped in November last year, two months earlier compared to previous mating seasons, when exhibits were usually swapped in January. This helps to encourage hormonal changes when smelling the scent of the opposite gender.

As with previous mating seasons, keepers continued to vary daylight hours and temperature at River Safari’s Giant Panda Forest. This simulates the seasonal transition from winter to spring in their homeland in Sichuan, China, triggering the breeding cycle of the pair—the first of their kind to live so close to the equator.

Kai Kai and Jia Jia in their courtship dance

Vets and keepers are carefully observing the behavior of the two pandas as well as monitoring Jia Jia’s hormonal levels. Once Jia Jia’s estrogen level drops, the giant pandas will be taken out of their respective exhibits for three days to allow natural mating in the dens. During these three days, visitors to River Safari will not be able to see Kai Kai and Jia Jia in the Giant Panda Forest.

Vets have also collected Kai Kai’s semen via electroejaculation for artificial insemination to increase the chances of breeding the pandas should natural mating be unsuccessful.