Pandas enjoy a meal of bamboo shoots at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding on June 24, 2012.

Story highlights

Chinese giant panda research base launches 24/7 live broadcast of resident pandas

Website streams live feeds from 28 webcams installed inside research base

Giant panda is considered China's national treasure

CNN  — 

Internet users love animal videos. So why not watch pandas – anywhere, anytime?

Billed as the world’s first multi-channel broadcaster of round-the-clock high-definition panda footage, a new website is streaming live feeds from 28 webcams installed inside the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China.

Visitors to www.ipanda.com can select from six channels, including adult, child, infant, and mother and child.

The website began a test launch on June 24, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, and has since attracted nearly 15,000 visitors. Panda lovers around the world can access the site beginning in August, Xinhua added.

But while the new venture has excited some, others are less enthused at the prospect of 24-hour panda-watching.

“I saw the rear view of a panda shaped like a glutinous rice dumpling. It was eating non-stop. The life of a panda is so happy,” wrote user Mogudawanglaixunshan on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo, while user Ashloo commented: “It’s boring. The pandas don’t move.”

Native to China, the giant panda is considered a national treasure and classified as endangered by the World Wildlife Foundation, with only 1,600 living in the wild as of 2004. The non-profit research base in Chengdu was founded in 1987 and currently has 83 of the furry creatures in residence.