| Red Pandas |
| Ahhhh... red pandas. One of my favorite animals. I love learning about these cute, cuddly creatures, and I hope you do too! The Red Panda (ailurus fulgens) is the less known cousin of the Giant Panda. Many scientists argued if the red panda's family is in the raccoon family or the bear family. It was finally put in ailurdae, which is neither bear or raccoon. The red panda is also called the lesser panda, the bear cat, the hun-ho, wah, and red cat bear. The red panda is slightly larger then a housecat. I looks like a red raccoon with a red and yellow ringed tail. It is about 3.5 ft long and weighs around 12 lbs. The red panda is crespular and nocturnal. They like to hang around in trees, and were first discovered by europeans in 1821. The red pandas live in the himalayas, which are spread out in areas of China, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, and Sichuan. They live in conferous and decidous forests in the nice mountain air. The Red Pandas mainly eat bamboo, but they sometimes eat bark, berries, stems and grasses and occasionaly small rodents. They are listed as carnivorous, although as you can see, they are mainly herbivores. The breeding of red pandas takes place in mid-january to mid-march. There can be up to a litter of four, although there are usually only two. The red panda is endangered by loss of habitat by farmers and deforestration. Many zoos, though, are hosting red pandas, so if you know of any zoo that holds red pandas, try to make donations. |
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