Red Panda
Ailurus fulgens

These acrobatic tree-dwellers use sharp claws for climbing and bushy tails for balance as they move through the bamboo forest. Back when they were named, red pandas were believed to be closely related to giant pandas. With DNA evidence, scientists now know that they are more closely related to skunks, weasels, and raccoons.

What They Eat
Bamboo leaves are the primary food of red pandas. They also eat berries, blossoms, bird eggs, and leaves from other plants. An enlarged bone on each wrists act like an extra thumb, allowing them to grasp slender leaves and branches.

Where They Live
Red pandas live in remote areas of the Himalayan mountains. They can be found in cool, temperate bamboo forests at elevations of 7,200-15,750 feet.

What They Do
These shy animals prefer to live alone, spending much of their lives in trees. Males and females come together only during mating season. Red pandas are most active while foraging for food in the morning and evening. During the day they can be found relaxing in tree branches or fallen logs.

How They’re Doing
Red pandas are considered a vulnerable species. Their numbers in the wild are continually declining due to habitat loss from agriculture, deforestation, and growing human populations.

Red Panda

The Chinese call the red panda hun-ho, which translates to “fire fox” because they are the color and size of a fox.  

Red pandas spend more than half of their day-up to 13 hours-searching for bamboo!

Red pandas start their day by licking their front paws and cleaning the fur all over their bodies.

Because bamboo is low in nutrients and hard to digest, red pandas need to consume up to 30% of their body weight in the fibrous plant each day (2.5-3 pounds) just to get enough calories! They select tender young leaves and shoots and chew them thoroughly to help digestion.

Disguised by the color of their coats, red pandas blend in well with the red moss and white lichens that grow on the trees where they live.

Things you can do

You can help save endangered species like the red panda by joining and becoming an active member of the Minnesota Zoo or other conservation organizations.

When you shop, don’t buy products made from endangered animal or plant species.

Sponsor a red panda at the Minnesota Zoo!

 

 

Red Panda

Red pandas are becoming scarce in the wild. People clearing forests for farming and grazing, as well as hunting for the fur and the pet trade, have fragmented their habitat and drastically reduced their numbers.

Things the Zoo's done/doing

The Minnesota Zoo, in conjunction with several other North American zoos, participates in the Association of Zoos & Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan (SSP) for red pandas. The Red Panda SSP helps manage and improve the lives of captive populations in North America, and through research, education, and conservation activities works to help preserve red panda populations in their natural habitat.

Conservation Notes

There is reason to believe that red pandas are an endangered species, but their true status is difficult to determine because of their inaccessibility in the wild. They are active mainly at night, spend most of their time in trees, and often live alone. They live at high altitudes in extremely rugged terrain that can only be reached by foot, and within countries that are usually off-limits to visitors. Most of the information about red pandas has been gathered at the National Zoo, which has successfully bred these animals since 1972.

Red Panda

The red panda was the "original" panda, described by western scientists in 1821, 48 years before the giant black and white pandas were found in 1869. They are considered one of the most beautiful animals, and are presently found in only a fortunate few zoos in the world.

Range and Habitat
Red pandas live in rugged mountain forests in high altitudes on the southeastern slopes of the Himalayas. Their range extends from Nepal across Bhutan, Sikkim, northern Assam, northern Burma, and as far east as the western Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Szechuan. These acrobatic tree-dwellers are very difficult to see. They are often high in the trees and well camouflaged by the reddish-brown moss that covers the trees’ branches.

Habits and Adaptations
Red pandas typically live alone, but sometimes form pairs. They have a mild disposition, are gentle, curious, and generally quiet by nature. Scientists have long pondered the taxonomic classification of the pandas. Anatomical features suggest red pandas are similar to raccoons, but there is also evidence that they are most closely related to the giant panda.

Diet
Mostly vegetarian, red pandas feed primarily on bamboo shoots, tuberous roots, fruit, acorns, and succulent grasses. Occasionally they eat eggs and perhaps birds and mice.

Reproduction
Pandas are sexually mature at 20 months. During the mating season (usually winter), a male uses scent-markings to attract a female, who then invites the male to mount her on the ground. The females make nests in tree hollows or rock crevices just before giving birth. Two young are born after a gestation period of 130 days. They are buff-colored and weigh only 4-5 ounces when they are born. Young pandas remain dependent on their mothers for three months.