Red Pandas Location, land, and more

Red Panda The red panda is 2 feet long with an 18 inch tail. It is slightly larger than a house cat. It has rust-colored fur, and a long bushy tail. It is usually quiet, gentle, and curious. The red panda is crepuscular (active just before dawn and dusk) and is also nocturnal. They spend most of their time in trees.

Location Red pandas live only in temperate forests in the Himalayan foothills from western Nepal through northern Burma and in the mountains of southwestern China at altitudes between 4,900 and 13,000 feet.

Land The red panda lives on the cool mountain slopes in areas that have a lot of bamboo.

Plants Some of the plants are mixed forests of fir trees, deciduous hardwoods, and rhododendrons, with a bamboo understory on which red pandas depend. Oaks, beech, and maple trees are examples of deciduous forest trees.

Animals Some of the red pandas’ neighbors in it’s environment are snow leopards, reeves’ muntjacs, himalayan monal pheasants, beale’s terrapins, chinese striped-neck turtles,and white cloud mountain minnows.

The Environment The red panda’s environment has been affected by increasing human population. The people cut down the forest for building materials, fuels, and destroy the understory plants. How? These activities destroy red pandas food, shelter, and nesting areas.

Characteristics Red pandas have developed special abilities that make them great climbers. Their claws are long, sharp, and can be retracted. They have strong legs and can climb down trees head first! Their big tails help them balance as they go through the trees. They have an extra thumb-like bone that helps them grip bamboo, and their fur helps them camouflage and hide from predators. The red on their backs is the same color as the moss on the trees, and their black bellies make it hard to see from below.

Diet Although red pandas have a digestive system better for a carnivore diet, it subsists mostly on bamboo. About 95% of their diet is bamboo. They also eat grass, seeds, and fruit. Sometimes they will eat an egg, insect, or small animal.

Babies Red pandas usually have two to four babies (cubs), and they are ready to have babies when they are one year old!

Shelter Red pandas are arboreal animals. Which means they spend most of their time in trees. The only time they come down is to look for bamboo shoots which they love to eat.

Defense They have no natural defense against predators so they may easily get caught and eaten by larger animals. Their main predator is the snow leopard.

Life Span In zoos red pandas can live to be up to fourteen years. We think they live to be around seven to eight years in the wild.

Status Red pandas are endangered. Sometimes people kill them to make fur hats and coats. Most red pandas get killed because of habitat loss, though. (By the way, it is illegal to hunt red pandas. Illegal hunting is called poaching.)

Interesting Facts Red pandas are actually more closely related to raccoons than giant pandas. They are the original pandas, first described in The web browser Firefox is named after the red panda.

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