The Red Panda
These animals are the first found panda bear the Giant Panda was found later. They are an endangered species and there are only 2500 adults left in the wild. The Red Panda has a low birth rate to begin with but there are many reasons why this species is facing extinction.
Image via flickr
The Red Panda
The Red Panda is also known as a lesser Panda or a Firefox, they inhabit areas of Burma, Nepal, Laos, India, Packistan, Bhutan and southern China. Given this amount of places and the size of these bamboo forests in these areas, now take the 2500 that are left in the world and guess the average. That leaves 300 on average that inhabit each of these areas. Its not that many given the size of the planet.
The Red Pandas have a low birth rate to begin with so this does not help the situation of repopulation of this species, there are also cultures in Chuna and India that uses these animals as mascots for their festivities. In China there are wedding cerimonies that the newlyweds wear these animals and have done for centuries and will continue to do so regardless. These are legit reasons for the beautiful animals being under threat but there are some not so legit ones too.
These amazing looking animals are also under threat from land expansion, where their habitat is being destroyed to make way for farm land and housing for humans that have over populated these areas. Instead of moving away from the forests they are moving into them and also putting other species under threat. There are also people that take these animals and just kill them for their fur to make clothing, and then eat them. Their fur is worth a great price on the common market and the black market. They are also taken from the forests and sold as pets or meat, which also catches a fine price on the markets.
Image via Wikipedia
Behaviour
The red panda is an extremely good climber, they have cat like claws that can retract back into the paw. They live in bamboo areas because this is mostly what they eat. They are most active at dawn and dusk and live on the hillsides usually above 1800 meters above sea level its very rare to see them in the wil below this level. They rest during the day lazing stretched across branches, and forks in tree trunks. Because of their thick fur they are very heat sensitive and sleep up under the tree canopy during the day. They have long tails that they wrap themselves up in to shade them from the sun.
These animals like to be on their own and dont usually stay in family groups. They have their own territory and they daily spray urine on their branch or tree to let other Red Pandas know that the branch is theirs. They have a daily routine of cleaning themselves as a cat or a fox would have, they make sure that they are clean and free of parasites. They travel through the trees with great ease or they can travel along the ground in search for food, when they find this food they will pick it up and feed it into their mouths with their front paws, they have a specialy designed thumb that allows them grab and hold onto their food, just like we do. They also have a strange way of drinking water, they dont put their mouth down to the water, they bring the water up to their mouths and drink from their paws.
Image via flickr
Description
Apart from their adorable appearance and placid temperment and all round charm. They grow to be quite long, up to 47 inches in length, they stand to the height of about a foot and a half off the ground when on all fours. They have long and soft red-brown hair on their backs and heads but have, black hair underneth and they have ring striped tails, these stripes are made up of the colours of their body. They have the same face as a racoon, witch have white faces with a black nose with black rings around their eyes. Each individual Red Panda will have a distinctive face and they tell each other apart as we would. They mainly eat bamboo but they also eat fruits, berries, grasses and such things.
Image via flickr
Image via flickr
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21 Responses to “The Red Panda”
On March 12, 2009 at 5:12 am
Wow, great article.
On March 12, 2009 at 5:40 am
Well written! Those numbers are as devastating as those things are adorable. I actually only recently saw a photo of one of these for the first time, so this was incredibly interesting to read as I knew nothing about them!
On March 12, 2009 at 7:08 am
So THAT’s what a firefox is. Very interesting piece.
On March 12, 2009 at 7:48 am
Awwww….how cute!
On March 12, 2009 at 8:13 am
Well done. I knew they were endangered, but had not realized just how few there are now.
On March 12, 2009 at 10:20 am
Awe beautiful creatures of Creator;awesome article my friend.
On March 12, 2009 at 10:41 am
those guys are cute! sad that they are endangered.. thanks for sharing..
On March 12, 2009 at 11:18 am
Such beautiful creatures! Excellent pictures and information.
On March 12, 2009 at 12:18 pm
How sad that these beautiful creatures face extinction. I had never heard of the red panda before, which is funny since I use the firefox web browser. This was so informative. I’m so glad you write these wonderful articles.
On March 12, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I had never even heard of these fabulous creatures before! How diverse our world is – I hope somehow these animals can escape extinction.
On March 12, 2009 at 3:32 pm
wow… such a beautiful panda…
On March 12, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Oh my gods, I love red pandas. They have some in Marwell Zoo, they’re so bloody lazy but absolutely adorable. The pictures you used are lovely and this is an interesting piece. Aw they’re so cute!
On March 13, 2009 at 3:56 am
an amazing article,, very informative.
On March 13, 2009 at 11:34 am
Thanx, I learn something new everyday.
On March 13, 2009 at 12:22 pm
What lovely creatures, I know I sound ignorant but I’d not heard of them before.
On March 14, 2009 at 7:52 pm
These are very cute animals and it’s understandable why they are soought out as pets. It is such a shame that man is slowly causing their extinction.
On March 16, 2009 at 10:42 am
this website really helped me with a project!!! i used to not even know they existed but now i think they are the cutest and cuddly animals ever!! thanks a bunch!!!
On March 16, 2009 at 10:44 am
they r so cute
On March 17, 2009 at 6:50 am
Aaawwww….they’re sooo cute!! great article
On March 23, 2009 at 10:47 pm
The red panda is my very favorite animal…tied with the clouded leopard! Thanks for this…
Kimberly
On June 1, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Hi ho I like this web addresse
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