As you can see from these pictures, yesterday was a very productive day for the pandas at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, located in Chengdu, Sichuan. And yes, that is actually the name of the breeding center, no word of a lie. Try fitting that on a standard business card.

About 1,600 pandas make their home in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. Scientists at these centers are trying to find ways to protect the wild pandas - one of the world's most endangered species - while at the same time increasing the numbers of their population. It appears the researchers couldn't resist any longer and had to take a break from all of their hard work to capture the playing pandas on film. Where do you sign up for that job?

» Times Online