REUTERS/Stringer
Giant panda cubs are seen inside baskets during their debut appearance to visitors at a giant panda breeding centre in Ya'an, Sichuan province, China.
Pandas. They're super weird! Sneaky, vegetarian, Disney-looking bears that sometimes show up during super critical moments in global diplomacy.
Wildlife photographer Ami Vitale recently published a photo essay in National Geographic about China's recent successes in their breeding and rewilding panda program. Over the course of three years of access to the program, she spent a great deal of time with the newborn bears. And recently, she's shared a great deal of what she found on her social media feeds.
Here's one find that surprised me enough to triple-check, and I'd describe myself as fairly panda-literate: The black-and-white bears don't roar at all, even when they're agitated.
And the babies make, apparently, this super weird cat-with-a-sock-on-its-head noise recorded on Vitale's Instagram. You have to hear it to believe it: