The Dujiangyan base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda has released a video that is impossible to look away from. Two utterly charming female pandas — Ji Fu and You You — have put on a real show with bamboo shoots.

In the footage, Ji Fu can be seen sampling giant bamboo stalks with such enthusiasm, as though they were the greatest treat of her life. One moment she perches on a tree with a shoot in her paws, the next she sprawls out on the ground, or even rolls around with it — and every move brings a smile. In the third clip, You You joins the feast, matching her companion bite for bite and in pure charisma.

Ji Fu has had a special destiny from the very start. She was born on August 6, 2022, at the Shenshuping base of the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province and immediately made history. Her birth weight was 270.4 grams, making her the heaviest panda cub ever born in captivity. Her mother is a panda named Cui Cui. You You was born a little earlier, in September 2021, right at the CCRCGP, to mother Xiu Qiu.

Both have grown up by now, but their childlike spontaneity has not faded one bit. Watching them wrestle with bamboo, it is easy to forget the enormous scientific effort behind the scenes. The CCRCGP has established the world's largest captive panda population and is pioneering rewilding research through captive breeding and training. The center runs a global cooperation platform uniting 18 zoos across 16 countries and regions, 39 domestic animal breeding institutions, and more than 10 research institutes.

But when Ji Fu rolls onto her back once more, clutching her bamboo tight, all the science recedes. All that remains is pure delight.