Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens)

Red Panda overview

The red panda is a cat-sized, tree-dwelling mammal with rust-red fur, a masked face and a long ringed tail. It lives in cool mountain forests of the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. Despite its name and its bamboo diet, it is not closely related to the giant panda: it is the only living member of its own family, Ailuridae, whose nearest relatives are raccoons, weasels and skunks. Red pandas are solitary, most active at dawn, dusk and night, and spend much of the day asleep in trees. Genetic work published in 2020 suggests there are two distinct forms, the Himalayan and the Chinese red panda.

How Long Do Red Pandas Live?

Red pandas live about 8–10 years in the wild and typically 12–15 years in zoos. The oldest known red panda lived to around 23. In the wild, many cubs do not survive their first year, and adults face predation by leopards and martens as well as the effects of habitat loss and free-roaming dogs.

How Much Does a Red Panda Weigh?

Adult red pandas weigh 3–6.2 kg (6.6–13.7 lb), about the same as a large house cat. Males and females are similar in size. Their thick fur makes them look heavier than they are. Newborn cubs weigh only about 110–130 g and stay in the nest for roughly three months.

How Long Is a Red Panda?

A red panda's head and body measure 50–64 cm (20–25 in), and the bushy ringed tail adds another 28–59 cm (11–23 in). That makes it slightly larger than a domestic cat. The long tail helps with balance in the trees and wraps around the body like a blanket in cold weather.

How Long Is a Red Panda Pregnant?

Red panda pregnancy lasts 112–158 days, averaging about 135 days. The wide range suggests a period of delayed implantation. Mating takes place in winter, and one to four cubs, usually two, are born in June or July in a nest the mother builds in a tree hollow or rock crevice.

What Do Red Pandas Eat?

Red pandas are herbivores in practice, with bamboo leaves and shoots making up the great majority of their diet. They also eat fruit, acorns, roots, lichens and the occasional egg or insect. Because they digest bamboo poorly, they must eat a large share of their body weight in leaves and shoots each day.

Diet type: herbivore. Mainly bamboo leaves and tender shoots, which form the great majority of the diet, supplemented with fruit, berries, acorns, roots, lichens and occasionally insects, bird eggs and small animals.

Where Do Red Pandas Live?

Red pandas live in cool, moist mountain forests with a bamboo understory, mostly between about 2,200 and 4,800 meters. Their range runs from Nepal through northern India, Bhutan and northern Myanmar into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan and the Tibet region. They need old trees for nesting and resting.

Are Red Pandas Endangered?

The red panda is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and its population is decreasing. Fewer than 10,000 mature individuals are thought to remain, though the true number is uncertain. The main threats are forest loss and fragmentation, livestock grazing of bamboo, poaching for fur and the illegal pet trade.

Endangered

Red Panda fun facts

• The red panda was scientifically described in 1825, decades before the giant panda, so it was the original 'panda'.
• Red pandas are one of the few animals that can climb down a tree headfirst, rotating their ankles to grip the trunk.
• Like the giant panda, the red panda has a 'false thumb', an extended wrist bone used to grasp bamboo; the two evolved it independently.
• 'Firefox' is an old nickname for the red panda, and the web browser is named after it.
• Red pandas have fur on the soles of their feet, which insulates them from cold and gives grip on wet, mossy branches.

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