Red Pandas By: Alaina & Shelby

Their Physical Characteristics Red pandas are about 42 inches long with their long bushy tail. They usually weigh between 7-14 lbs. The red and white marks blend with the leaves and mosses. Soft dense fur covers their entire body, all the way down to their feet.

Behavioral Their not very people. They have broad teeth and strong jaws that help them survive around their neck of the woods.

Ecosystem:They live in cool temps, and bamboo forests. You can find them in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in China, up in the Himalayas and Myanmar. They share some of their lands with Giant Pandas. Forests of ancient trees, called old growth forest are very important to their survival because they provide dens and hiding placed for small cubs.

Role Their roll in their ecosystem is a producer for some predators and a consumer of bamboo, leaves, and some bird eggs.

The Decline

Red pandas are endangered because of habitat loss and poaching, definitely from humans. There are fewer than 2500 adult red pandas left in the wild. The increase in human population in China and Nepal has meant more people cutting down the forests where they live.

What Would Happen... If red pandas were to die out completely, it would mean another unfortunate name on the extinct list and some predators would loose their main source of food sending their ecosystem into despair.

How Are They Helping? Zoos everywhere are trying to help. They are adopting red pandas into their zoos to breed them. Also, the government has made it illegal to harm them. In 1992 there were about 85 zoos that held more than 300 pandas. More than 300 were born from 1972 to 1992 and still to this day.

How Can We Help One way is to stop cutting down their ecosystem, but the biggest way we can help is to adopt a red panda. You don’t actually get to keep it, but your contribution will help exhibit improvement and medical care.