Eating, sleeping, and saving the earth — all in a day's work for these newborn pandas.
They're cute, cuddly, and may save China's bamboo forests.
When a baby panda is born, it's a big deal.
Because, seriously, who doesn't want more of this?
Even though the wild panda population has grown 17% in the past decade, the bears remain critically endangered.
There are 1,864 pandas in the wild. While the numbers show conservation efforts may be working, pandas are still pushed out of feeding grounds by agriculture and other human activity. Land restoration and breeding advancements may be the key to more healthy pandas in the wild.
And what's better than one baby panda? Twin baby pandas!
These two panda sisters were born June 22 at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding to their mother, Kelin, who was artificially inseminated in January.
Needless to say, people are a little excited.
The babies are maintaining their temperature and getting enough to eat, two signs of good health.
Considering they'll grow to over 220 pounds, the cubs are downright tiny. Right now, they're as long as a stick of butter, and they weigh just a few ounces.
But they're more than just cute — pandas do amazing things for the environment!
Pandas are essentially a furry version of Captain Planet. They do a lot of the heavy lifting for China's bamboo forests by spreading seeds and helping plants grow.
If pandas go extinct, that spells bad news for the environment.
Without pandas, other animals and plants would be endangered, and it could mean the end of several food and income sources for humans.
That's why conservation efforts and research facilities like the one in Chengdu are so important.
So today, we celebrate Kelin and the Chengdu Research Base on the birth of two healthy cubs.
They're small and hairless now, but with conservation, research, and a whole lot of love, these sisters will grow up to lead long, happy, bamboo-eating, earth-saving lives.
To see more of the newborn pandas in action, watch this short video from CCTV+.
(Some of it is in Mandarin, but baby pandas are a universal language.)