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 twin cubs marked their 100th day of birth over the past weekend, but will only be taught at age two or three to reach for objects as part of “caregiving training” to enable veterinarians to examine them, an Ocean Park zoologist has said.
In an interview with the Post, Howard Chuk Hau-chung, head of zoological operations and conservation at the park, said the cubs would be trained with a “‘target’ command” to enable vets to conduct physical examinations or “body checks”.
The training would teach the animals to touch or interact with a specific target object or area on cue.
The pair of giant pandas gifted by Beijing, male An An and female Ke Ke who arrived in the city in September, were also being given caring training, which taught them to reach out their arms so handlers could draw their blood for tests.
“The training is one of the systematic steps for body checks. For the twins, we may need to wait until they turn two to three because the ‘target’ command requires them to acquire learning abilities and be able to live independently in their own enclosures,” Chuk said.