Your morning adorable: Giant panda holds a stuffed animal, looks darn cute doing it

Few things can match a giant panda in the field of cuteness -- OK, maybe squirmy puppies, koala joeys, fennec foxes and knobby-kneed moose calves come close -- but the panda above seems really determined to send his adorableness into the stratosphere.

How else can one explain the fact that he is not only holding a stuffed animal, but also sticking his tongue out just slightly while doing so?

We can only consider this a challenge to other cute animals, a dare to work harder and be more relentlessly adorable.

Either that, or it's a promotion for the 2010 Asian Games -- and he's holding the mascot -- which kicked off Friday in Guangzhou, China. Athletes from 45 Asian countries and territories are competing in the  event, which concludes Nov. 27.

See another photo after the jump!

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Photos: AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[M-Lou]

The panda holding the stuffed animal is BaSi, one of China's oldest and most beloved Giant Pandas, at her 30th birthday celebration in November 2010. She is holding the 2010 mascot of the Asian Games which is meaningful because BaSi was the model of the mascot (named Pan Pan) of the first Asian Games held in Beijing. BaSi was rescued from starvation in the wild about 27 years ago and she now lives at the Fuzhou animal reserve. BaSi's visit to the San Diego Zoo in the late 1980's increased awareness of panda conservation in the US.