Recent footage has captured a family of pandas inventing new ways to play with their enrichment toys at the Wolong Shenshuping base in southwest China.
The base is part the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) in Sichuan Province, the world's largest breeding center for the giant pandas.
In the first clip, the cubs Qing Yang and Can Yang showed off their very different personalities. One wandered in the distance, observing the world at its own pace, while the other was completely absorbed in figuring out every possible way to engage with a giant green ball. The young bear climbed over it, sprawled across it, and even burrowed inside, experimenting with the toy from every angle.
Their mother, Can Can, appears in the second clip. Instead of pushing the toy around, she simply stretches out on top of the oversized ball and starts spinning herself in circles, clearly delighted with her newly discovered technique.
The green ball toys in the clips are part of the base's enrichment facilities, an approach designed to stimulate natural behaviors in captive pandas. Enrichment helps broaden the animals' activity range, supports both physical and mental wellbeing, and reduces the risk of stereotyped behaviors, ensuring that pandas stay healthy, curious, and engaged with their surroundings. The CCRCGP is a world-leading institution dedicated to the breeding and conservation of the giant panda. The center has established the world's largest captive population of giant pandas and pioneered research on captive breeding and training for rewilding.
The center also holds the largest global platform for promoting international cooperation and exchanges on Panda reservation, involving 18 zoos from 16 countries and regions, 39 domestic animal breeding institutions, and over 10 scientific research institutes.
Panda family finds creative ways to play with enrichment toys
