By Daily Mail Reporter

|

These cute and cuddly Chinese panda cubs are giving their carers the real run around.

Endearing footage shows the four friendly black and white beauties slipping and sliding down a custom-made wooden slide.

Living at the Chengdu Panda Base, dedicated to saving and breeding giant pandas and other rare animals, at times they act like little kittens.

Scroll down to see the video...

Panda cubs playing at the Chengdu Panda Base on a slide

Cute: The fabulous footage shows the four pandas slipping and sliding down the slide

Squealing: Emitting cute noises, the pandas role on their backs as they tackle the obstacle

Panda cubs playing at the Chengdu Panda Base on a slide

All fours: This panda looks like he's having a whale of a time as he plops off the end of the slide

Emitting tiny squeals of delight as gravity pulls them down to the ground, they follow in the footsteps of their human keepers by playing on the equipment.

And they seem infinitely more active than their former zoo-mates Yang Guang and Tian Tian, who arrived at Scotland's Edinburgh Zoo for a 10-year conservation project on December 4 last year.

Panda cubs playing at the Chengdu Panda Base on a slide

Pile-up: The pandas charge onto the slide and fool about at the bottom, pushing some of them over the edge

Hugs: It's a real scrum to try and get onto the slide, shown by these hilarious pictures

Panda cubs playing at the Chengdu Panda Base on a slide

Chilling out: It's no surprise this panda has to have a rest after his exertions with his friends

The aim was for the pair to mate and breed, thus saving a species that is in rapid danger of soon becoming extinct.

But so far natural sparks have failed to fly between the couple and they remain panda cub-less.


 

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

that looks like so much fun lucky zoo keepers

Some padding needed at the bottom of that slide, methinks.

too cute!

FANTASTIC!!!!

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.