Bless you! Hilarious footage shows a giant panda sneezing 11 TIMES in a row
- Cute black-and-white animal sneezes non-stop for 20 seconds
- The bear tried to use its paws to cover its mouth when it sneezed
- Global watchdog downgraded pandas to a 'vulnerable' species today
A giant panda has amused thousands of web users after it was filmed sneezing non-stop while lying in its enclosure.
The popular video was shared by People's Daily Online on its Facebook page and quickly gathered some 27,000 views.Â
The black-and-white bear sneezes 11 times in less than 20 seconds.Â
Why can't I stop? A clip showing a panda sneezing non-stop in its enclosure has become viral
The 56-second-clip captured the priceless reactions of the animal when it couldn't stop sneezing.Â
The bear was seen trying to use its paws to cover its mouth when it sneezed - just like a human being. Â
Although it remains unknown when or where the video was shot, it has delighted thousands of social media users.Â
The panda's name and gender also remain unknown. Â
It seems the video has been widely shared on Chinese media by panda-specific accounts, such as 'Pandapia' and 'April Da Tian Jiang'.
Three sneezes, more to come: The panda is seen sneezing non-stop for about 20 seconds
Finally: The bear finally calmed down after 11 consecutive sneezes in the hilarious footageÂ
This adorable bear is not the first panda that rose to fame due to its powerful sneezes.Â
In 2009, a video footage showing a mother panda's shocked look as her cub sneezes in front of her became an internet sensation.  Â
The clip shows a baby panda named Chi Chi sneezing at a panda breeding centre in China’s Sichuan province.
It gathered more than 250 million views online in total and has spawned numerous spoofs – including one on the American cartoon show South Park.
The popular video was also reimagined in a US$5.7 million mockumentary, Sneezing Baby Panda, in 2014.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a report released on Sunday that the animal is now classified as a 'vulnerable' instead of 'endangered' species, reflecting its growing numbers in the wild in southern China.
It said the wild panda population jumped to 1,864 in 2014 from 1,596 in 2004, the result of work by Chinese agencies to enforce poaching bans and expand forest reserves.
The IUCN report warned that although better forest protection has helped increase panda numbers, climate change is predicted to eliminate more than 35 per cent of its natural bamboo habitat in the next 80 years, potentially leading to another decline.
Animal groups hailed the recovery of the bamboo-munching, black-and-white bear that has long been a symbol of China and the global conservation movement.
The panda population reached an estimated low of less than 1,000 in the 1980s due to poaching and deforestation until Beijing threw its full weight behind preserving the animal.Â
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