You may think giant pandas have a better life than you do – and you’d be right.

A set of panda triplets – Meng Meng, Shuai Shuai and Ku Ku – celebrated their 4th birthday in southern China’s Guangdong province last Sunday.

They are the only panda triplets in the world.

But the birthday stars were not the only triplets at the event.

As it turns out, all the children invited to the celebration were also triplets. A statistically improbable thing to pull off, but made easier with China’s population of 1.4 billion – four times that of the United States.

Accompanying these children were marching bands dressed in panda costumes, soldiering on in the 100°F heat.

Giant pandas are a vulnerable species, with a low birth rate. The World Wildlife Fund estimates there currently are only 1,864 giant pandas living in the wild.

The Chinese government has spent significant effort in repopulating giant pandas.

The rare bears also play a critical role in allowing China to assert its soft power through lending pandas to foreign countries – known as “Panda Diplomacy.”

Playing soccer for a brighter future