Having turned one on 14 August, Le Le will be embarking on his solid food journey and learning new positive reinforcement skills.
Over the past one year, the first ever Singapore-born Giant Panda cub has made a remarkable transformation from a 200-gram mostly hairless and helpless infant into an over 33kg furry and feisty bundle of energy, and continues to make steady progress in his growth and development.
First Solids
While still mainly reliant on mom’s milk, Le Le was offered pellets and carrots on 10 June 2022, and has begun to nibble on these, in addition to bamboo leaves and shoots, in small quantities. Panda cubs start to wean at around 12 months old but may still continue to nurse for up to 18 months.
Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT)
 As Le Le embarked into the world of solid food with gusto, his care team also took the opportunity to begin his PRT journey on 7 July 2022. These sessions are in preparation for routine medical procedures in the near future to facilitate overall animal care and health monitoring.
PRT makes use of rewards to encourage an animal to repeat a desired behaviour. In Le Le’s case, his carers are starting off by getting him to respond to a target. When he completes the behaviour correctly, he is given a treat in the form of a piece of carrot or pellet.
Like any young child, Le Le still gets easily distracted so training lasts no more than a few minutes at a time, for now. These PRT sessions will be gradually lengthened and will make upcoming health checks and procedures easier and less stressful for Le Le and his team of carers.
Le Le may be slowly increasing his skills set but most of his carefree days continue to be spent bonding with Mummy Jia Jia over bamboo bites, investigating enrichment toys prepared by his care team, and falling asleep in various poses on his favourite treetop perch.
Birthday Festivities
Photo Credits: Mandai Wildlife Group
Venue: River Wonders
Date: now till 11 Sep 2022
For Le Le's first birthday celebration, he and his supermom Jia Jia were presented with a lovingly designed three-tier ice cake embedded with carrots, bamboo and edible flowers, and topped with apple slices.Â
And, the birthday festivities continues. From now till 11 September 2022, celebrate all things panda at River Wonders with panda-themed activities in an all-new day to night experience.
Panda-stic Party Bundle
The Panda-stic Party bundle, which includes admission to the day and night event, starts from $36 and can be purchased online. Night offerings run from Fridays to Sundays, eve of Public Holidays and on Public Holidays within the event period. As some of our animal residents need their rest after dork, do note that the Giant Panda Forest and Squirrel Monkey Forest will only be open during the day. Amazon River Quest will also not be operational at night.
For more details, visit the Panda-stic Party link.
