Red panda

The red panda is dwarfed by the black-and-white giant that shares its name. These pandas typically grow to the size of a house cat, though their big, bushy tails add an additional 18 inches (46 centimeters). The pandas use their ringed tails as wraparound blankets in the chilly mountain heights.

The red panda shares the giant panda's rainy, high-altitude forest habitat, but has a wider range. Red pandas live in the mountains of Nepal and northern Myanmar (Burma), as well as in central China.

These animals spend most of their lives in trees and even sleep aloft. When foraging, they are most active at night as well as in the gloaming hours of dusk and dawn.

Red pandas have a taste for bamboo but, unlike their larger relatives, they eat many other foods as well—fruit, acorns, roots, and eggs. Like giant pandas, they have an extended wrist bone that functions almost like a thumb and greatly aids their grip.

They are shy and solitary except when mating. Females give birth in the spring and summer, typically to one to four young. Young red pandas remain in their nests for about 90 days, during which time their mother cares for them. (Males take little or no interest in their offspring.)

The red panda has given scientists taxonomic fits. It has been classified as a relative of the giant panda, and also of the raccoon, with which it shares a ringed tail. Currently, red pandas are considered members of their own unique family—the Ailuridae.

Red pandas are endangered, victims of deforestation. Their natural space is shrinking as more and more forests are destroyed by logging and the spread of agriculture.

                                                    Characteristics

Red panda, also known sometimes as cat bear and lesser panda, is largely herbivore. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, an adult red panda in the forest weighs around 4 kg. It has retractile claws and like the giant panda, it has a “false thumb” which is really an extension of the wrist bone. Thick fur on the soles offers protection from cold. The pelage is reddish – orange on the body with a long bushy tail. Their ears and areas around the eyes are white with black “tear drops” running from the eyes to the throat. These intricate white markings on the face of a red panda makes it most conspicuous. Both sexes are alike.

                                          Fast wild Facts

Scientific name: Allurus Fulgens
Type: Mammal
Diet: Herbivore
Avg. Life span in the wild: 8 years
Weight: 4.5 to 9 kg
Size: Head and body, 20 to 26 in (50 to 65 cm); Tail, 12 to 20 in (30 to 50 cm)

• Common Name

  Red Panda

• Scientific Name

  Ailurus fulgens

• Geographic habitat(in India)

  Sikkim, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.

• Height

  Approx 90cm

• Length

  50 to 60 cm

• Weight

  Male: 4.5 kg-6.2 kg, Female: 3.7 kg-4.5 kg

• Population

  Around 2500

• Did you know?

  The red panda has an extra thumb for feeding and climbing.

• Status

  Endangered

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