HERE is the first glimpse of the pair of fuzzy darlings that are headed our way in the second half of 2011.
The two-year-old male and one-year-old female giant pandas are currently in China's panda reserve in Wolong in Sichuan province. They each have a twin sibling, which Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) hopes will enhance their chance of reproducing when they get here.
The pandas will make their public debut in 2012 when WRS' new $140 million river themed animal attraction, the River Safari, opens. WRS is building a special enclosure for them, which will be full climate controlled with air-conditioning set at 18 to 22 deg C and humidity level set at 50 to 60 per cent all year round.
The cute envoys for Singapore were announced by Chinese President Hu Jintao at an Istana state banquet on Wednesday night to mark 20 years of China-Singapore relations. They will be here as part of a 10-year reseach and conservation collaboration between WRS and China Wildlife Conservation Association.
WRS will also start a breeding programme of the endangered species. There are some 1,600 pandas left in the wild and another 200 up in captivity left in the world.
Singapore will be the seventh country to receive a pair of pandas from China, after Austria, Australia, Japan, Spain, Thailand and the United States. Taiwan also received a pair last year as a sign of warming relations between the two straits.
The bears will be named when they arrive in Singapore.
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