First panda cub born in Singapore is named Le Le by online voters
By Sarah Yukiko
Singapore’s first panda cub, born in August, has finally received its name following an online voting contest.
Singapore and China jointly announced the name on Wednesday in a virtual ceremony. The cub will be named “Le Le,” which is derived from an old Chinese name for Singapore, “shi le po.”
More than 31,000 votes out of a total of 64,000 votes were cast for Le Le against four other shortlisted names in an online poll that ran from Nov. 3-7
The panda family and the naming of Le Le were lauded as symbolic of the friendship between the two countries, including by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
Singapore has had two giant pandas on loan from China since 2012, but this is the first time they have succeeded in breeding them. Father Kai Kai and mother Jia Jia had been encouraged to mate for years but had not produced a cub until this year.
The panda cub weighed 200g (.44 pound) upon birth on Aug. 14 and on Wednesday weighed in at 9.62kg (21.2 pounds).
Le Le will be on display twice a day at the River Wonders wildlife reserve, in a specially designed glass nursery for his comfort.
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