Hong Kong’s giant panda Jia Jia has become the oldest panda in captivity after celebrating her 37th birthday.

The equivalent of more than 100 years old in human terms, Jia Jia was presented with a towering birthday cake made from ice and fruit juice with the number 37 carved on top in her enclosure at the city’s Ocean Park theme park.

“Jia Jia has achieved two Guinness world record titles – the oldest panda living in captivity and the oldest panda ever living in captivity,” said Blythe Ryan Fitzwilliam, adjudicator of Guinness World Records, during a ceremony at the park.

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He offered her his congratulations, saying it was an “amazing longevity achievement”.

Jia Jia, whose name translates as “excellence”, picked at fruit slices and bamboo around the ice cake to celebrate her big day.

She was born in the wild in Sichuan, China in 1978 and was given to Hong Kong in 1999 to mark the semi-autonomous city’s handover by Britain two years earlier.

The previous record was held by a male panda called Du Du, who was also caught in the wild and died in July 1999 at the age of 36 in a zoo in China’s Hubei Province.

Vet Paola Martelli said Jia Jia was still “moving about” though she suffered from cataracts and high blood pressure.

“She is sleeping more, so is doing everything less. But she is ageing gracefully, just like your grandma,” she said, adding that she relies on fibre supplements.

There are fewer than 2000 pandas now left in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund, as their habitats have been ravaged by development.

Pandas rely on bamboo and eat almost nothing else.

Given their low birth rate, captive breeding programs have become key to ensuring their survival.

Jia Jia enjoys her birthday cake. Photo: AAP