Ocean Park’s Giant Pandas celebrated their birthdays on the 28th July – Jia Jia turns 37, An An is 29, Ying Ying and Lei Lei are both turning 10 – with a bit of a party.
Jia Jia, who arrived 19 years ago at Ocean Park when she was 18 years old, is now a double Guinness World Record holder for “the oldest panda ever in captivity” and “the oldest panda living in captivity”. The previous holder of both records was also a female, Du Du, who passed away on 22 July 1999 shortly before turning 37, now that Jia Jia has turned 37, she is the new record holder. In human terms 37 is still young but converting panda years into human years, 37 is equivalent to 110 human years. A birthday that is definitely worth celebrating!
Ocean Park also announced that Ying Ying had recently returned from Sichuan where she participated in China’s Giant Panda Breeding Program and enjoyed several romps with China’s horny male pandas and a bout of artificial insemination. The gestation period for giant pandas is quite long but there’s hope that Ying Ying is pregnant, and will soon give birth to her first locally born cub.
Ocean Park’s “Summer Nights” promotion offers extended opening hours to 9pm on all Saturdays and Sundays in August (i.e. 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30 August). There’s also a special discounted entry price of $198 (Adults) and $99 (Children) to enter the Park after 4pm.