A red panda is the size of a pet cat. They have red fur and a long thick tail. They eat mostly bamboo. They spend most of their time in trees. They live in mountain forests. Common Name: Red Panda Scientific Name: Ailurus fulgens

Red pandas have the looks of both a racoon and a panda bear. They are small in size compared to other bears (around 60cm long), and have thick fur. The fur on top is long and reddish-brown in colour and black underneath on their stomach. It has a roundish head with its face colour being white. It has a black nose and it has white pointed ears. Their feet underneath are white and they are covered with a thicker layer of fur to allow them to walk through snowy areas easily and keep them from getting cold. Red pandas have long and bushy tails which have reddish and light brown rings and looks like a raccoon’s tail.

Red pandas mostly eat bamboo leaves. Most of its diet is bamboo, but they also eat fruits, berries, mushrooms, leaves, grass, roots, lichens and acorns. Although they are considered carnivores(meat eater),they are more of a herbivore,(an animal that eats plants and not meat). The red panda will sometimes eat young birds, eggs, fish and mice. Red pandas are great climbers and mostly search for their food in trees. They have a small bone that acts like a thumb and helps them hold the bamboo stalks as they eat. Because bamboo does not give a lot of nutrition, red panda’s spend a lot of time sleeping to keep their energy.

Red pandas are nocturnal and are mostly active in the early morning and in the late afternoon. During the day they mainly rest in the branches of trees and in tree hollows. They cannot handle temperatures over 25’C so at this time they will usually sleep in a shady tree. Red pandas live mainly in trees and they are very acrobatic. They all live in the same areas, although they mostly stay on their own, except when they get together to have cubs and when the females have their cubs. Red pandas are territorial and two ways which they may mark their territory is by urinating and scents from glands on the bottom of their feet. They look for food at night through trees and on the grounds and eat using their front paws to put the food in their mouth. Red pandas drink by putting their paw in water and licking their paws. Red pandas are fairly quiet except when they communicate by using body language (like head bobbing and arching their tail) and make a lot of different noises (such as a warning whistling or threatening “huff-quack” whistle). In zoos, red pandas can live up to 15 years. It is believed that they live for 7-8 years in the wild.

Red pandas are found in the cool temperature, high mountain rain forests (bamboo forests) of Western China, Bhutan, Nepal, Laos and Myanmar (Burma). There are about 2,500 to 2,000 adult red pandas left in the wild, although there also red pandas held in zoos as they are trying to keep them from becoming extinct.

RED PANDAS ARE ENDANGERED BECAUSE: The main reason the red panda is being endangered is that their habitat is being ruined from humans. There are so much more people now (population growth), who are cutting the red pandas forest home for their own needs:  Timber (To build houses)  Fuel (Logs - To cook with & use as firewood)  Making the red pandas land into farms and to plant and grow crops (food). Because the red pandas habitat is being ruined, this has caused bamboo shortages. There is less bamboo plant which is the main food of the red panda. Bamboo is found here and there in the forest which makes it harder for the red pandas, as there is not only less food but there is also less shelter and nesting areas (an area they can give birth to their cubs).

Hunting is another reason there are less red pandas. This problem is not as bad as it was in the past, because it is now illegal, although some people still steal them for their coats to make nice clothes and hats to sell. Other wild animals also hunt the red panda to have as their food. The main one is the snow leopard. Another thing which doesn’t help the red panda grow in numbers is that the females give birth to one to maybe four cubs once a year or every two years. So they are not having many cubs.

China has set up forest areas which help protect the red panda against people ruining their home. People are working together to make sure the forest home of the red panda is protected. This is very important because this will keep the red panda from becoming extinct. International breeding programs (to help produce baby animals);  More than 80 zoos around the world have red panda breeding programs and help to make sure that the red panda stays alive and has cubs within the zoo environment. The zoos are like a safe house for them. Organisations (groups of people) are making authorities (people who have the power to give orders & change things) understand and realise what is happening to red pandas so they can help. Not-for-profit organisations are making sure the red panda is being kept safe and is continuing to grow in numbers by making sure that people are aware of their actions and what they are doing to red pandas and educating them. They are also raising money to do research and to help their habitat from being ruined.  For example, community –based programs are run, where they teach and employ local people to look after their forest and help them learn and get what they as people need without making more damage to the forest and the animals.

I can help by making people aware of the red panda being an endangered species by;  Spreading the word to friends and family to educate them so they too can help save the red panda.  Hold a stall at my school, to raise enough money to adopt a red panda through our Victorian Zoos or other not-for-profit organisations (a group of people who help raise money for the same reason and offer their time without pay).  I can also donate money to our Victorian Zoos or other not-for-profit organisations which look after the safety and well being of the red pandas.  Ask the school and/or friends and family to write to the local member to get their support in helping the red panda also.

The red panda is named after the fiery colour of its long soft coat. Red pandas red and black colour, camouflages them from their predators (any animal which lives by feeding on other animals). The red on their backs is exactly the same colour as moss found on the trees where they live. The black on their stomach makes it hard to see them from below. A red panda eats approximately 200,000m bamboo leaves daily. The red panda is the FIRST panda. It was first discovered in 1821, 48 years before the giant panda was discovered. Red pandas claws are sharp and can be pulled back like a cat. Red pandas wash themselves like cats, by licking their front paws and cleaning all their fur. Red pandas have an extra “thumb”, which is a bigger bone to be able to hold bamboo stems. Red pandas drink by putting their paw in water and licking their paws.

Red pandas are closely related to racoons and are similar to giant pandas and bears, but are now in a ‘family of their own.’ Baby pandas are called cubs. They grow in their mother for three months and are born into a nest made of twigs and grass. They have thick grey fur and their eyes are closed (they are blind at birth). When the cubs are 3 weeks old, they open their eyes. Red panda cubs start to get the colour of an adult red panda at approximately 90 days old. They come out of their nest when they are three months old. Red panda cubs stay with their mother until the next cubs are born, which is about a year after their birth. The males do not really help to raise the cubs. Red pandas cover their faces with their tails in winter when they sleep.

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