Red panda

These furry fuzzy family favourites are actually more closely related to racoons than the black and white giant pandas.

Also known as the lesser panda, red bear-cat and red cat-bear they are found in the Eastern Himalayas and South-western China.

They are highly territorial and live a solitary existence except during mating season. Instantly recognisable by their red colouring (and cute face), long bushy tails (and cute face) and racoon like features (and cute face) they are excellent tree climbers and are able to descend trees head first.

Classified as endangered, there are fewer than 10,000 in the wild with the largest threats listed as poaching and loss of habitat. It’s estimated that there’s been a 40% decrease in numbers over the last 50 years alone.

Fun and interesting red panda facts

They were given the name ‘panda’ first; roughly fifty years before the black and white variety.
They have a false thumb (an extended wrist bone) which has developed over time to help them climb trees and eat bamboo.
They’re vegetarian carnivores. Wait! What? Yep, its true. That is because the word ‘carnivore’ doesn’t necessarily imply a meat-eater but can refer to their biological order. As they’re descended from carnivorous ancestors but rarely eat anything more than bamboo and a few insects they are classed as vegetarian carnivores. Go figure?!
Truly an animal of the cyber generation they have a web browser named after them and they tweet! The browser is Firefox (that’s a red panda in the logo) and they actually ‘tweet’ from their mouths. The sound they make is called ‘twittering’…but no 280 character limit here!

Latin name
Ailurus fulgens

Class
Mammalia

Order
Carnivora

Family
Ailuridae

Conservation status
Endangered