Red pandas are not really pandas, but what they are is TOTES ADORBS. So of course a video of one doing something really cute has got the internet in a tizzy.
This video, first posted by Twitter user @pro824824824, shows Jyajya the red panda emerging from an opening, entering an enclosure at Japan’s Himeji Central Park and instantly setting his sights on a dangerous enemy: a rock.
“Kung Fu Red Panda” ensues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmri–Rlfy0
Jyajya wastes no time getting up on his hind legs, presenting what I’m guessing was supposed to be an intimidating stance. The effectiveness of said stance was apparently negated by the fact that everything red pandas do makes you wanna say “dawwwww,” because the rock remained literally and figuratively unmoved.
Perhaps because it was convinced the rock posed no further threat, or because it was having trouble not falling over, Jyajya ultimately let the rock go with what we assume was a stern warning.
But the fighting is not over. While hellogiggles.com is convinced the red panda was trying to scare the rock, a Grape write-up claims Jyajya was actually confronting a bug that was on the rock.
To solve this mystery, I decided to do some in-depth research. And by “research,” I mean “Googling red panda videos.” It was very hard work, obviously.
Anyway, research reveals that red pandas and inanimate objects have gotten into conflicts before. There is a video of a red panda locked in a heated battle with what appears to be a small pumpkin, another fighting snowy branches and, of course, one taking on the dual evils of doorknobs and gravity:
The giggles.com post indicates red pandas have very few natural enemies. It is entirely possible that, without any worthy opponents, red pandas have taken to shadow-boxing whatever they can find in their enclosures. Maybe they are tired of always being called cuddly, and are fighting to be taken more seriously. I mean, just look back at that menacing stance.
OK. Sorry Jyajya. It still just looks cute.
And you thought fighting the rock was the losing battle…