These cute critters are enjoying the snow way more than we are

February may be getting ready to end but Winter sure keeps on coming. Today’s cute is brought to you by the four-letter S-word that curses us all winter — snow. But a little winter weather never stopped cute critters from having fun. Enjoy these animals out playing in the snow (or in one case, ‘competing’ in it)!

Blizzard Watch Discord member Kehl shared this video of two Guardian Druids bears at the Orphaned Wildlife Center in New York in our server‘s dedicated Cute channel. Who do you think rules the snow mountain? We may never know…

YouTuber Lee Walters shares cute videos of all their animals (we may end up revisiting their channel in a future Cuteness), and they have quite the variety! This one has one of their cats on aggressive snow cleanup duty — their rock has been profaned, and the situation needs to be resolved ASAP. Bonus points for kitty face cameo at the end.

Giant pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao were absolutely delighted by the largest snowstorm of the year that hit their home at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo towards the end of January. According to the YouTube description, Qing Bao (shown in our header) in particular seemed to enjoy playing in the snow, while Bao Li showed off his somersaulting skills for her in front of the howdy gate. And after their wintry playtime (so similar to their native homes in the cool-temped mountain forests of central China), they can head right into their indoor den when ready to warm up. Check out the National Zoo’s roundup of all the animals that enjoyed the weather in addition to Bao Li and Qing Bao — you’ll spot our favorite cheetah cubs at the end!

Finally, everyone’s favorite Olympian this year was on four legs instead of two. We found out later this Very Good Boy is Nazgul, a two-year-old Czechoslovakian Wolfdog who just happens to live next to the Olympic cross-country ski trails. Luckily, his romp during the women’s cross-country team sprint preliminary qualification round ended well for all, with no injuries and just a few scares (mostly among the competitors who were not expecting a dog to join the race). His adventure even landed him on WeRateDogs‘s Top Dogs of the Week. And yes, Nazgul had a photo finish.

Header image by Kaitlyn Adkins, Smithsonian.