DC’s new pandas are loving the snow day

The pair of pandas at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., played in powder after the region received several inches of snow overnight.

“Tumbling in a winter wonderland!” the National Zoo captioned a video shared on the social platform X.

The video showed clips of pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao’s outdoor habitat at the zoo, where they jumped, rolled and played in the snow.

“Flakes stuck to their fur as the bears frolicked and somersaulted,” the zoo wrote. “It was paws-itively the panda *snowment* of our dreams!”

The panda pair will make their public debut Friday, Jan. 24, marking will mark the long-awaited return of the species to the zoo.

It was reported late last year that the pair of 3-year-old pandas left southwestern China and arrived in Washington.

The National Zoo’s previous three giant pandas left Washington in late 2023, ending a years-long "Panda Diplomacy" agreement between the U.S. and China.

To the joy of D.C. residents and panda-lovers alike, the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute announced in May that pandas would be returning to the zoo for research purposes.

Pandas were pulled from several other Western zoos after agreements expired, and some foreign policy experts noted it could be indicative of tensions between Beijing and Western governments.

The return of the two pandas to the National Zoo was met with much excitement. The zoo periodically shares updates about the pandas as they await their public debut.

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