S’pore-born giant panda cub Le Le has a ‘beary’ good time playing with snow in China

Giant panda cub Le Le has been introduced to snow in China and seems to be having a “beary” good time after

arriving there on Jan 16.

The Singapore-born cub is being quarantined in Huaying in Sichuan province and is under the care of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda, which will determine where his next home will be.

Le Le, who turns three years old in August, is expected to be quarantined for 30 days.

On Jan 30, the research centre posted a 1min 40sec video on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.

The video caption, written in Chinese, explained that Le Le’s outdoor activities were paused because of a steep drop in the mercury at the snow-covered Huaying Mountain.

To let the panda gradually adapt to the lower temperatures and new environment, snow was brought indoors for him, it added.

In the video, one of his handlers can be seen sweeping glistening white snow into a bucket outdoors. The temperature was at a numbing 2 deg C at an altitude of 1,200m, according to the accompanying text.

The bucket of snow is then stacked on top of another pile of snow in an enclosure for Le Le to play with.

Some bamboo shoots are placed at the side.

Initially, Le Le just gnaws on the bamboo shoots, seemingly uninterested in the snow.

He approaches the snow only after finishing his snack, first placing a front paw on it tentatively, then breaking the tightly packed snow apart with both paws.

By the end of the video, the lower half of his body is covered in snow and he even tries to bite into a small chunk of it.

The Douyin post had 10,000 likes and more than 700 shares as at Feb 2.

Many netizens commented on how adorable Le Le was in the video, and some joked that he was making ice kacang, a shaved ice dessert, for the handler.