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Elizabeth Cheung

What is the significance of Ying Ying giving birth?
Ying Ying’s cub would be the first giant panda to be born in Hong Kong.
Has Ying Ying experienced any changes during her pregnancy?
Her weight has dropped from 100 kilograms two months ago to her current weight of 95kg. She is also eating fewer bamboo daily, from between 10 and 13 kg to 1kg after becoming pregnant. Weight loss for expectant pandas is considered normal.
What’s the easiest way to identify Ying Ying from other pandas at the park?
Ying Ying has big eyes shaped like the number ‘8’.
She is inquisitive, active and vigilant and loves to sleep atop top trees, play with balls and rolling tubes, and balance off a branch and bend backward. The Sichuan-born panda is also trilingual, trained in Putonghua, English and Cantonese.
Apart from bamboo, she also loves to eat wild rice shoots, vegetables, fruits and high-fibre biscuits.
Do Le Le and Ying Ying have any children?
Le Le and Ying Ying are the second pair of pandas given to Hong Kong. Both were born in August 2005, they were relatively young when they arrived at Ocean Park at around two years old. After attempts to have them mate naturally failed, they were arranged to join the national giant panda breeding programme in February.
Do An An and Jia Jia have any children?
An An and Jia Jia were the first pair of pandas given to Hong Kong by the mainland government. Jia Jia, a female panda born in 1978, had given birth to six children before arriving in Hong Kong in 1999 with An An, who was 14 years old at the time. Due to their age difference, the park did not arrange for them to mate.
An An’s sperm was used to artificially impregnate a female panda on the mainland. His cub Rong Rong was born in 2004 in Wolong, Sichuan, and is now living in a zoo in Sichuan.
READ MORE: It's official! Ying Ying pregnant and due to deliver Hong Kong's first giant panda cub
Why are pandas so rare?
Pandas reach reproductive maturity between four and six years old. However, female pandas can only get pregnant two to three days each year, usually between March and May. Loss of habitat due to human activities have also threatened pandas’ survival.
A mother panda might spend at least a year and a half taking care of her cub and does not breed during that period. A baby panda weighs only 0.1 per cent of its mother’s weight, meaning that looking after a cub is a considerable challenge for a much physically larger mother.
How many pandas are born each year?
Last year, 36 pandas were born in captivity, and 32 of them managed to survive. Around 200 captive pandas have been born in China over the past 10 years.
How many pandas are there currently in the world?
Currently there are around 1,864 wild giant pandas and 375 in captivity worldwide, according to the mainland’s State Forestry Administration in May. Pandas are considered an endangered species.


Your panda questions answered as Ying Ying prepares for historic cub birth in Hong Kong

Ying Ying (right) with Le Le back in 2007, the year they arrived at Ocean Park in Hong Kong. Photo: Robert Ng

A park official explaining Ying Ying's pregnancy. Photo: Bruce Yan

It’s official! Ying Ying pregnant and due to deliver Hong Kong’s first giant panda cub

Giant panda Ying Ying is due to deliver a cub within a week. Photo: Sam Tsang

Giant panda Ying Ying (left) is due to deliver a cub within a week. Photo: Oliver Tsang

Ying Ying (right) with Le Le took part in a national breeding scheme in Sichuan province earlier this year. Photo: AFP

A surveillance camera captures Ying Ying is sleeping at Ocean Park. Photo: Bruce Yan

Ultrasound scans late this month confirmed that Ying Ying was indeed carrying a foetus, currently measuring about 3.5cm in length.

News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

What is the significance of Ying Ying giving birth? Ying Ying’s cub would be the first giant panda to be born in Hong Kong.


Your panda questions answered as Ying Ying prepares for historic cub birth in Hong Kong

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}What is the significance of Ying Ying giving birth? Ying Ying’s cub would be the first giant panda to be born in Hong Kong.

What is the significance of Ying Ying giving birth? Ying Ying’s cub would be the first giant panda to be born in Hong Kong.