The National Zoo's pandas are having the time of their lives in the snow!
Washington, D.C. - A snow day would be nothing without some sledding action, and these pandas made the most out of their day at the National Zoo!
Two giant pandas at the Smithsonian's National Zoo made the most out of their snow day, using just their fluffy bodies to slide down the hills of their enclosure.
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian were captured on video joyfully basking in the cold temperatures and recent snowfall, something that giant pandas absolutely love.
Because the animals hail from the central, mountainous part of China, they thrive and find comfort in snowy conditions.
As seen in the video tweeted out by the National Zoo, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are clearly having the time of their lives sledding and romping around in the snow.
The Smithsonian's National Zoo currently has three giant pandas on-site. Mei Xiang is a 22-year-old female, Tian Tian is a 22-year-old adult male, and Xiao Qi Ji – which means "little miracle" in Mandarin – is the nearly 5-month-old male cub of Mei Xiang, born in August 2020.
There are currently only 1,864 giant pandas living in their natural habitat in central China. This is part of the reason why the National Zoo partakes in a conservation effort to help increase the population of giant pandas.
Panda cubs who are born at the National Zoo usually stay there with their moms until they're 4 years old. Then, as part of an agreement, they're sent back to China to become part of the breeding population and are re-released into the wild.
As for Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, hopefully there will be even more snow to put smiles on the faces of people around the world.
Cover photo: Collage: screenshot/Twitter/@NationalZoo