Red Panda

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Description

Red pandas resemble raccoons with a long, bushy tail. Their soft, dense fur covers their entire body, even the soles of their feet. Red pandas are the link between coatimundi and bears.

Range & Habitat

The red panda prefers the temperate bamboo forests of the sub Himalayan states of Northeast India. The range also extends east to Nepal, Bhutan, China, and Myanmar.

Behavior

Red pandas are excellent tree climbers. When descending a tree headfirst, they rotate their ankles to control descent. Adults are solitary, except during mating season and they are generally quiet except for some twittering and whistling.

Diet

Red pandas forage largely in trees and are specialized bamboo eaters with strong semi-retractable claws which allow them to grasp narrow branches and leaves. Besides bamboo, they also eat berries, fruit, mushrooms, roots, acorns, lichen, and grasses.

Conservation

The primary threats to red pandas are direct harvest from the wild, habitat degradation due to livestock and farming, and habitat loss due to deforestation or fragmentation. Because of their secretive nature, direct count of their worldwide number is difficult to determine.

Fun Facts

Zoologist Frédéric Cuvier first described the western Red panda Ailurus fulgens fulgens in 1825, 48 years before the black-and-white bear was cataloged.
Red pandas eat an average of 200,000 bamboo leaves a day.
Their tails have several uses, including to help them balance when in trees and to also provide warmth in the winter.