Hug This Animal: Red Panda

Too bad you can’t really Hug This Animal. It’s one of the most cuddly creatures I’ve ever seen. If you have red pandas at your local zoo, be patient and spend some time looking high up into the trees in their exhibit. They can usually be found up there.

Once, I saw one of my local red pandas on the ground. It was persistently chasing around the muntjac (also known as barking deer) sharing its exhibit. This comical scene forever endeared the red panda to me. All of the photos in this post feature one of my local red pandas, but I didn’t have my camera the day of the muntjac chasing.

Another neat thing I quickly realized when I first started reading about the red panda last year is that the Firefox web browser logo is a red panda. I never really thought about that orange creature hugging the globe much, but it turns out that firefox is another name for the red panda.

Red pandas resemble raccoons and weigh between seven and 14 pounds. They have an unusual diet for a mammal. Their primary food is the youngest, most tender parts of bamboo. Red pandas also eat berries, bird eggs, blossoms and small leaves of various plants. They use their long, bushy tails to balance when in trees. Red pandas are native to the Himalayas and remote bamboo forests in China. They share some habitat with the giant panda. The red panda was actually discovered before the giant panda and is known as the “lesser panda” because of its smaller size.

Unfortunately, it is not known exactly how many red pandas actually exist. According to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, fewer than 2,500 adult red pandas are left in the wild. They are endangered because of habitat loss. In eastern Nepal (important habitat for red pandas), several negative land management practices threaten the red panda. The Red Panda Project is working to help create a Red Panda Protected Forest in Eastern Nepal. The area is believed to contain 25 percent of Nepal’s red panda population and other endangered species, such as the clouded leopard. In addition to facing habitat loss, red pandas are also hunted for their fur, used for clothing or hats.

More than 80 zoos worldwide currently have red pandas. The Red Panda Species Survival Plan (SSP) Program in North America is one example of a management program that is helping to ensure the survival of a viable zoo population of red pandas. Read more about SSPs at the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.

Ways to Help:

•Inform others about the red panda. It is often overshadowed by the giant panda and is not as well known.

•Support a zoo with red pandas. If your zoo doesn’t have red pandas, you can adopt a red panda from the National Zoo. They have been working on red panda conservation and research for many years.

•Spread the Word by displaying The Red Panda Project banner on your website.

•Take an Ecotrip into this creature’s exciting habitat in Nepal!

If conservation efforts are successful, the red panda may continue to exist in the wild. If not, it will become one of those animals we will only see in zoos. The National Zoo is working to help support this species and is planning field studies. The Red Panda Project is working to ensure the survival of this species in Nepal. Whether you make a donation or just simply spread the word, you are helping this charming mammal survive for future generations. Don’t forget to look up in the trees!