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Lo Hoi-ying

Panda Watch is a weekly blog by the Post that tracks the latest on the baby panda twins – the first to be born in Hong Kong – until they are ready to meet the public. To read our previous blog entries, click here.
Hong Kong’s panda cubs are almost 70 days old and their tails are starting to “disappear” as they grow rounder.
In a social media post, Ocean Park explained that the tail makes up one-fifth of the length of newborn cubs, but apparently “vanishes” in adult pandas.
“During their development, the growth of the tail is not as fast as their bodies, so in adult pandas, the ratio of the tail to body decreases to one to 10,” the park said.
In adult pandas, the tails are closely tucked into their round bottoms, which are full of fluffy hair, making them less visible, according to the park.

Zookeeper Elke Wu revealed that as the twin cubs grew older, some personality traits were starting to shine through.
“The black patches around Elder Sister’s eyes flick upwards like an eyeliner while the patches around Little Brother’s eyes are rounder,” she said.
“Elder Sister’s fur is more fuzzy and she is more gentle and quiet, while Little Brother’s shriek is louder.”
Howard Chuk Hau-chung, Ocean Park’s head of zoological operations and conservation, said the park hoped the cubs could meet the public when they turned six months old, or around the Lunar New Year period in 2025.
“This will depend on whether their condition is stable,” he said.
Panda cubs elsewhere in the world have been treated differently in terms of the timing of their introduction to the public.
Two giant panda cubs at the Berlin Zoo, born on August 22 – a week after the Hong Kong twins were delivered – recently made their debut on October 16.
The two girls, born to mother Meng Meng, had been cared for behind the scenes at the Panda Garden but met the public for the first time last week, shortly before they turned two months old.
“While one cub stays with mother Meng Meng behind the scenes, the other will cuddle in the panda bed, which will be placed in Meng Meng’s indoor enclosure,” the zoo said, adding that the twins were stable enough to be independent of their incubators.
They are displayed for an hour a day in the afternoon, while staff on site ensure that flash photography, tapping and shouting are prohibited. The babies, who do not have names yet, rest in a cot within the enclosure surrounded by full-length glass panels.
Biologist and panda curator Dr Florian Sicks said the thick glass of the indoor enclosure effectively dampened outside noise and the temperature was kept constant.
The zoo also introduced exclusive behind-the-scenes tours to see how the cubs are cared for. Tickets, which do not include admission to the zoo, cost €460 (US$496) and have sold out for the next six weeks.
Meng Meng previously gave birth to another pair of giant panda twins in 2019, named Pit and Paule. The twin brothers, the first giant pandas born in Germany, debuted at the zoo in January 2020 when they were five months old.

In Singapore, giant panda Le Le, born in August 2021, met the public for the first time in a glass-fronted nursery at the River Safari when he was four months old and weighed 9.62kg (21.2lbs).
He was the first panda cub born in Singapore and was displayed to the public in a nursery twice a day. At seven months, he was moved to an enclosure to join his mother Jia Jia, where visitors could see him exposed to new elements such as plants, rocks and slopes.
Giant panda Xiang Xiang, a media sensation since her birth at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo in June 2017, met visitors for the first time when she was six months old and weighed 12.3kg.
To control crowd sizes and reduce stress on Xiang Xiang, the zoo limited the maximum number of visitors to 2,000 a day for a one- to two-minute slot for the first month, choosing among 250,000 applicants using a lottery system.
Elder Sister’s weight: 2.7kg
Little Brother’s weight: 2.54kg


Panda Watch: Hong Kong cubs’ tails grow rounder, start to ‘disappear’ at 70 days

Hong Kong should scrap ‘panda economy’ focus as it is too ‘low end’, former minister says

Panda Watch: Hong Kong cub twins happier and healthier at 2 months old

Hong Kong’s Ying Ying recovering slowly since giving birth as panda twins start crawling

Hong Kong’s pandas

‘Big Sister’ has black patches around her eyes that look like eyeliner, says zookeeper Elke Wu. Photo: Ocean Park

The tails of “Big Sister” (left) and “Little Brother” have grown rounder and will appear to vanish as they grow older. Photo: Ocean Park

“Little Brother” has louder shrieks than his sister, who is gentler and quieter, zookeeper Elke Wu says. Photo: Ocean Park

A panda-themed installation in New Town Plaza in Sha Tin. Photo: Sam Tsang

Anthony Cheung says a recent stock market rally driven by Beijing’s stimulus injection showed that Hong Kong had no trouble bringing back money for short-term speculation. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Ocean Park shares its latest pictures of “Elder Sister” and “Little Brother”. Photo: Ocean Park Hong Kong

The two panda cubs have come a long way since they were born in August. Photo: Ocean Park Hong Kong

News

Hong Kong

Hong Kong economy

Fur on ‘Elder Sister’ fuzzier and she is more gentle and quiet, while ‘Little Brother’ has louder shrieks


Fur on ‘Elder Sister’ fuzzier and she is more gentle and quiet, while ‘Little Brother’ has louder shrieks.


Panda Watch weekly blog

Ocean Park

Pandas

Hong Kong tourism