A pair of giant pandas were caught on camera playing and rolling in the snow after they were let out into the open for the first time at Finland's Ahtari Zoo Panda Centre which officially opened to the public on Saturday (17 February). The pandas had been kept under quarantine until then.

China gifted the four-year-old male panda Hua Bao, and three-year-old female Jin Baobao, on a 15-year-loan to Finland which celebrated 100 years of independence from Russia last year.

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The pandas were renamed Pyry ("Snowfall") and Lumi ("Snow") in Finnish after they arrived at the zoo 330 km (205 miles) north of Helsinki on 18 January, the Yle website reported.

According to ABC News, China has presented pandas to countries as a sign of goodwill. Finland is the first Nordic nation to receive them.

The zoo built a special panda house annex for the pair but they have been kept in separate enclosures till they mature to a breeding age. The facility has been designed in such a way that they are aware of each other's presence.

The staff at the zoo are helping the pandas adapt to their new environment and have been closely monitoring them day and night.

"I think they did [have jet lag] in the beginning. I had jet lag myself, so I woke up during the night and I checked them through camera and they woke up in the same time with me," Ahtari Zoo veterinarian Heini Niinimaki said, according to SBS news.

Pyry and Lumi
One of the two giant pandas, male Hua Bao (Pyry) and female Jin Bao Bao (Lumi), sits in a box as it arrives at Helsinki-Vantaa airport in Vantaa, Finland on 18 January - File Photo MARKKU ULANDER/AFP/Getty Images
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