All you need to know about the charismatic red panda
Ultimate red panda guide: Uncover the secrets of the world’s cutest, most elusive animal – and why they’re at risk of disappearing
These tree-dwelling cuties are the original panda, having been described by scientists nearly 50 years before their black and white namesakes.
They’re not actually even close relatives of the giant panda, belonging to their own unique family (Ailuridae) and sharing traits with racoons, weasels and skunks.
How big are red pandas?
Brilliantly adapted against the cold and for life in the trees, red pandas grow to the size of a house cat, but with all the charisma of rusty red teddy bear.
They’re between 56-62.5cm long without their tail, which is 37-47.2cm long. They weigh between3.6-7.7 kg
What do red pandas look like
Red pandas have thick russet-coloured fur with black underbelly and limbs. They have white markings on their face, and have a short snout and big ears. Their tail is long and bushy. They also have sharp, semi-retractable claws, flexible ankles and pseudothumbs.
What role do the patterns on their fur play?
Red pandas’ rusty red fur matches the moss and lichens that grow on the trees where they spend most of their lives, while the black fur on their underneaths makes them hard to spot from below. In both cases, this camouflage protects them from predators such as snow leopards and jackals.
The reddish-brown markings against the white fur on red pandas’ faces is thought to have evolved to help keep the sun out of their eyes.
Where do red pandas live?
Red pandas live in the high-altitude (2,500-4,000m) forests of the Eastern Himalayas and other mountains, spread across Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar and Nepal. Mainly an arboreal species, they spend most of their lives in trees, eating, sleeping and sunbathing.
What were originally assumed to be two subspecies of red panda are now, as a result ofrecent genetic research, thought to be two distinct species. The slightly smaller Ailurus fulgens fulgens is mostly found in Nepal, along with Bhutan, India and Myanmar. The Chinese red panda, Ailurus fulgens refulgens is larger, with more distinct rings on its fluffy tail.
What do red pandas eat?
Belonging to the order Carnivora, red pandas are technically carnivores, but in reality they consume meat very rarely. Instead, 95 per cent of their diet is bamboo – their name is thought to be derived from ‘ponya’, a Nepali word for bamboo eater.
Red pandas access their favourite food using a very handy adaptation – an extended wrist bone that works like a thumb, helping them grip bamboo shoots. While giant pandas feed on most of the bamboo plant, red pandas go for the leaf tips and tender shoots alone. Because their digestive system is set up for eating meat, they only actually digest 24 per cent of the bamboo they eat. This means they have to eat massive amounts of it – up to 1.8kg every day. Crepuscular, red pandas forage at night and around dusk and dawn.
Along with bamboo, red pandas will sometimes tuck into fruit, acorns, roots, lichens, birds and their eggs, insects and small mammals.
How do red pandas climb trees?
Red pandas’ pseudothumbs are useful not just for holding onto bamboo shoots while eating, but for keeping a firm grip while climbing. Widely separated toes and semi-retractable claws are useful here too. Flexible ankles mean that they can climb down trees headfirst, enabling a speedy escape from predators like jackals and snow leopards. Their long, bushy tails help with balance and thick fur on the bottom of their feet keeps them from slipping on wet or icy branches.
How do red pandas deal with the cold?
Along with that bushy tail, which they can use to wrap around themselves when curled in a ball, red pandas have two layers of fur: a soft, dense undercoat and a coarse upper coat. This enables them to cope with night time temperatures of as low as -7 degrees C, and also stay dry in snowy conditions. Red panda cubs, unlike giant panda cubs, are born with a full coat of fur.
If temperatures drop really low, red pandas can become dormant, going into a state of decreased physiological activity known as torpor. By slowing their metabolic rate and lowering their body temperature, they can conserve energy, a useful skill given how few nutrients they get from their diet. Red pandas rouse themselves from this deep sleep every few hours to feed.
In warm weather, red pandas will stretch out on a branch and pant to lower their body temperature, just like a dog does.
Are red pandas sociable?
Red pandas are solitary creatures, only interacting with each other in breeding season, though in zoos, breeding pairs will usually live together year-round.
When red pandas do come across others of their species, they will communicate by squealing or making a so-called ‘huff-quack’, a cross between a duck’s quack and a pig’s snort. They will also arch their tails, bob their heads and, if threatened, stand on their hind legs or release a stinky liquid from glands at the base of their tail.
How do red pandas reproduce?
Breeding season is January through March for red pandas in the northern hemisphere, andJune through August for those in the southern hemisphere. Though pandas spend most of their lives in the trees, they come to the forest floor to mate, the male marking his territory with liquid from the glands at the base of his tail when searching for a mate. He’ll also leave piles of scat.
Female red pandas are only fertile for a couple of days a year, but have developed a clever adaptation – delayed implantation – to ensure that cubs are born in the spring when the most tender bamboo shoots are available. Gestation therefore ranges from 93 to 156 days. Thefemale builds a nest in a tree hole or stump, or amongst tree roots or a thicket of bamboo, and lines it with moss, leaves and other plant material.
There are one to four cubs per litter, with two most common. Cubs will be weaned by around five months but stay with their mother for up to a year, or the onset of the next breeding season.
Red pandas reach sexual maturity at 18 months old, with females bearing cubs until the age of 12.
How long do red pandas live
Red pandas can live up to 23 years, though typically up to 10 in the wild
What threats do they face?
With fewer than 10,000 individuals left in the wild, red pandas are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. They are threatened by loss of habitat as a result of both forest clearances and climate crisis, with higher temperatures forcing red pandas to higher altitudes.
Forest fires (due to rising temperatures) and traps laid for animals such as deer and wild pigs are also a threat. In China and Myanmar, they are poached for their pelts.
We named the red panda one of the cutest animals in the world