Panda cubs have a family brawl

It would appear that even panda cubs are not that energetic

Panda cubs brawl to boredom

Pandas generally don’t move too fast. Inclined to slothful activity, it’s unusual to see the animals do much more than look vaguely excited about the arrival of food.

But panda cubs in China’s Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, in Chengdu, got into a playful brawl earlier this week.

The five cubs can be seen rolling and scrapping in their enclosure as they buffet one another after one cub attempts to climb a nearby tree.

Quickly returning to form, the cubs - after a mere 50 seconds of brawling - soon appear bored and each wanders off to separate corners of the enclosure.

At birth panda cubs are among the smallest newborns in comparison to their mothers, measuring up to approximately a small block of butter. Although dependent on their mothers for the first months of their lives, at eight to nine months the cubs are fully weaned.

Pandas usually live for 14 to 20 years in the wild, but can live for up to 30 years in captivity.

There are only an estimated 1,600 giant pandas left in the wild. Although they do not have many natural predators, their habitat is being destroyed by human encroachment with poaching killing many more.