Pandas are one of the animal kingdom's cutest and most fascinating creatures. However, they are not the most graceful animals, as proven repeatedly by various videos of them falling and rolling on the ground.
Despite that, the public love them even more because of how adorable they look. There are countless videos and pictures of pandas rolling on YouTube or any social media sites that went viral. But why are they so clumsy?
This photo taken on December 25, 2019 shows a panda playing as staff members cover the enclosure with snow at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu in China's southwestern Sichuan province.
Pandas Love to Play
Videos of pandas falling or rolling are popular online as people like seeing these adorable, giant bears showing their clumsy side and having fun. But researchers from Zoo Atlanta and Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding said that pandas do this as a way of playing.
An article in Untamed Animals further explained that falling and rolling are completely natural for pandas. Even as cubs, they fall as they grow and their mothers will often fall with them - a behavior that scientists believe contributes to the cubs' development.
Their body shape might also contribute to their clumsiness because they have round bodies and short limbs, making them easily fall out of balance and roll.
Even in climbing trees, pandas are known to be adept climbers. According to the National Zoo, these animals climb and subsequently fall as a form of play that is seen as both absolutely cute and ridiculous at the same time.
🐼#BeiBei is working on his dismounts out of the trees! Pandas are adept climbers & will climb & fall during play sessions #PandaStory pic.twitter.com/6bk0ML1eUM
— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) July 7, 2017
ALSO READ: [WATCH]: Wild Pandas Courtship and Mating Filmed For the First Time
Giant Panda Happily Roll Down the Hill
Mei Xiang, the 22-year-old female giant panda in the National Zoo at Washington D.C., regularly makes the headlines. The latest one was of the birth of her baby in 2020. But she is also one of those pandas that love playing and rolling for happiness in her enclosure.
It seems that pandas do not run out of wacky things to do and there is no scarcity of content to their clumsiness yet adorable nature. A few months ago, a panda was filmed being naughty as he briefly escaped his enclosure in front of the visitors of the Beijing Zoo.
Six-year-old Meng Lan escaped his zoo enclosure by scaling the wall and climbing up the six-foot-tall fence before entering a transition zone that separates the enclosure and where the visitors are.
But the most recent video that had people on social media swoon again is the 13-second-clip of goofiness, showing a panda rolling. Times Now News reported that the giant panda was trying to enter a dry moat from a forested area but instead rolled in the empty space when it failed to find a footing.
The video did not reveal the source and time it was taken, but it looks like it was captured inside a panda enclosure. It has now gone viral on different social media platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Watch the video below:
RELATED ARTICLE: Pandas Like Poop Rolling and Scientists Say They Know Why
Check out more news and information on Giant Pandas in Science Times.
