Red panda diet
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Activities
Like the giant pandas, the red pandas also do not hibernate through the winter, so their thick fur and bushy tails also provide protection from the cold, harsh weather. Also like giant pandas they are a solitary animal and spend most of the time by themselves.
They sleep most of the day and look for food at night, which makes them nocturnal. When they get mad or scared, they will stand on their hind legs and raise their arms. Sometimes they attack with their teeth and claws.
Habitat
Scientists have recently discovered that there are two distinct species of red panda, not just one, the Chinese red panda and the Himalayan red panda. The Chinese red pandas are found mostly in China and the Himalayan red panda is found in Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar.
The red pandas share the habitat of the giant panda, the coniferous forests with dense undergrowth of bamboo at elevations of 5,000 to 11,000 feet. Rain or dense mist throughout the year shrouds these remote forests in heavy clouds. In the winter snow is common.
Today, these forests are under attack by dramatic i
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Red panda
Species of mammal in Asia
For other uses, see Red Panda.
The red panda (Ailurus fulgens), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle and a ringed tail. Its head-to-body length is 51–63.5 cm (20.1–25.0 in) with a 28–48.5 cm (11.0–19.1 in) tail, and it weighs between 3.2 and 15 kg (7.1 and 33.1 lb). It is well adapted to climbing due to its flexible joints and curved semi-retractile claws.
The red panda was formally described in 1825. The two currently recognised subspecies, the Himalayan and the Chinese red panda, genetically diverged about 250,000 years ago. The red panda's place on the evolutionary tree has been debated, but modern genetic evidence places it in close affinity with raccoons, weasels, and skunks. It is not closely related to the giant panda, which is a bear, though both possess elongated wrist bones or "false thumbs" used for grasping bamboo. The evol
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Living the high life: With their bushy tail for balance—which can be as long as their body—and claws for gripping, red pandas are definitely acrobatic tree dwellers. Most of their time is spent in trees, and the red panda’s cinnamon red coat, occasionally saddled with orange or yellow, and soft cream-colored face mask give great camouflage among the red moss and white lichen that cover the tree trunks of their bamboo forest homes. Below each eye is a band of color that varies from tan to red to black. The legs and belly shade to black in striking contrast to the red body, and the tail is fully furred and more-or-less banded, with rings on some individuals being more pronounced than on others.
Trees are also used as a perch for sunbathing high in the forest canopy and give red pandas an escape route from predators such as snow leopards and dholes. To descend, red pandas climb down headfirst, gripping the trunk with the hind claws.
Red pandas live mostly in cool, temperate forests with a shrubby understory dominated by thick bamboo. They pr
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