The pandas having the apples together, like human beings, is a sight to behold.

The dining table is a key indicator of etiquette. It shows your status and professionalism, how elegant and refined you are. It played a key role in the Godfather films, where the titular hero Marlon Brando uses food to maintain family values. Animals too can mimic human behaviour in this field – with panache. A group of four giant pandas sitting on chairs around a table and enjoying some apples kept on it is a rare sight that you simply cannot bear without feeling a frisson of delight. This is what happened in a zoo in China, a video of which has gone viral on social media.

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The Chongqing Zoo in China every now and then shows videos online of its pandas having a meal together. A new video however, shows the pandas sitting 90-degree erect and comfortably and politely enjoying some apple pieces kept on a wooden table. They seem to be engaged in a ‘conversation,’ like humans, much at ease with their environment.

The giant pandas appear to have a canyon-sized stomach: they can consume up to 38kg of bamboo on a daily basis. They are a rare, endangered species.