Red panda

The red panda is a small mammal from the eastern Himalayas and south-western China. It has thick reddish-brown fur, a black belly and legs, white markings on its ears and muzzle and a long ringed tail. Its head and body are about 51 to 64 centimetres long, plus a tail of 28 to 48 centimetres.

It lives in forests of conifers and broadleaf trees on steep slopes with dense bamboo near water. It is solitary and spends much of its time in trees, climbing with flexible joints and curved claws. It eats mostly bamboo shoots and leaves, plus fruit and blossoms. The red panda has been listed as Endangered by the IUCN since 2015.

The first panda

The red panda was described in 1825, decades before the giant panda was named in 1869, so it was the first animal to be called a panda. The word may come from a Nepali phrase meaning bamboo-footed. The two animals are not close relatives: the giant panda is a bear, while the red panda sits in its own family, with raccoons, weasels and skunks as its nearest relatives. Both have an extra wrist bone, a false thumb, for gripping bamboo.

Life in the trees

Red pandas mate in early spring, and females give birth in summer to as many as four cubs. They are threatened by poaching and by cutting down and breaking up of their forests. Programmes with local communities in Nepal, Bhutan and north-eastern India, and nature projects in China, are helping to protect them, and zoos run breeding programmes. In South Korea you can see them at Everland and Seoul Grand Park.

On the globe

The globe places the red panda in Namdapha, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Look for the reddish coat and ringed tail.