Pandas and horses and dogs, snow my! Animals large and small in the US are benefiting from the first major snowstorm of 2021.
While humans took shelter indoors in the Midwest and Northeast, animals were captured on camera frolicking in the winter conditions.
On Sunday, giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian at the National Zoo in Washington DC went viral on social media after security footage captured iconic bears rolling and somersaulting in the snowy grounds of their enclosure. Both pandas could be seen sliding down a hill on their backs.
One video on Monday saw a pair of black horses in Idaho walking around their gated enclosures and covering their bodies in white.
Other videos showed dogs with mouths wide open, jumping, sniffing and pawing through untouched snow.
A golden retriever in Maryland even tried to make snow angels.
NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins said the nor’easter was on track to become the biggest three-country snowstorm in five years. The winter storm has already projected up to 2 feet of snowfall, and blizzard-like conditions in the northeast.
Karins said the forecast from the National Weather Service’s New York office has called for 21 inches in Central Park, which would tie it for the fourth-largest snowstorm in New York City history.
Meanwhile, the winter storm set another record: 11-month-old male giant panda cub Xiao Qi Ji, of the National Zoo, experienced his first encounter with snow on Sunday.
In a photo series, the National Zoo tweeted on Sunday, “He took a little sip of the fresh powder.”
Xiao Qi Ji was the zoo’s first baby panda in five years. Its Mandarin Chinese name means ‘little wonder’.
