All you need to know about the charismatic red panda <\/p>
These tree-dwelling cuties are the original panda, having been described by scientists nearly 50 years before their black and white namesakes.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p> They\u2019re not actually even close relatives of the giant panda<\/a>,\u00a0belonging to their own unique family \u00a0(Ailuridae<\/em>) \u00a0and\u00a0sharing traits with\u00a0racoons<\/a>,\u00a0weasels<\/a>\u00a0and skunks.<\/p> 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.\u00a0<\/p> They’re between\u00a056-62.5cm long without their tail, which is\u00a037-47.2cm long. They weigh between3.6-7.7 kg<\/p> 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.<\/p> Red pandas\u2019\u00a0rusty red fur matches the moss and lichens<\/a> that grow on the trees where they spend most of their lives, while the black fur on their\u00a0underneaths\u00a0makes them hard to spot from below. In both cases, this camouflage protects them from predators such as\u00a0snow leopards<\/a> and jackals.\u00a0<\/p> The reddish-brown markings against the white fur on red pandas\u2019 faces is thought to have evolved to help keep the sun out of their eyes.\u00a0<\/p> Red pandas live in the high-altitude\u00a0(2,500-4,000m)\u00a0forests of the Eastern Himalayas\u00a0and other mountains, spread across Bhutan, China, India,\u00a0Myanmar\u00a0and Nepal. Mainly an arboreal species, they spend most of their lives in trees, eating,\u00a0sleeping\u00a0and sunbathing.\u00a0<\/p> What were originally assumed to be two subspecies of red panda are now,\u00a0as a result ofrecent genetic research, thought to be two distinct species. The slightly smaller\u00a0Ailurus fulgens\u00a0<\/em>fulgens<\/em>\u00a0is mostly found in Nepal, along with Bhutan,\u00a0India\u00a0and\u00a0Myanmar. The Chinese red panda,\u00a0Ailurus fulgens\u00a0<\/em>refulgens<\/em>\u00a0is larger, with more\u00a0distinct rings on its fluffy tail.<\/p> Belonging\u00a0to the order Carnivora,\u00a0red pandas are technically carnivores, but in\u00a0reality\u00a0they consume meat very rarely.\u00a0Instead,\u00a095 per cent of their diet is bamboo\u00a0\u2013 their name is thought to be derived from \u2018ponya<\/em>\u2019, a Nepali word for bamboo\u00a0eater.\u00a0<\/p> Red pandas access their favourite food using a very handy adaptation \u2013 an\u00a0extended wrist bone that\u00a0works\u00a0like a thumb,\u00a0helping\u00a0them grip\u00a0bamboo shoots.\u00a0While giant pandas\u00a0feed on most of the bamboo plant, red pandas go for the leaf tips and tender shoots\u00a0alone. \u00a0Because their digestive system is set up for eating meat, they only\u00a0actually\u00a0digest 24 per cent of the bamboo they eat.\u00a0This\u00a0means they\u00a0have to\u00a0eat massive amounts of it \u2013 up to 1.8kg every\u00a0day.\u00a0Crepuscular,\u00a0red pandas\u00a0forage at night and around dusk and dawn.\u00a0<\/p> How big are red pandas?<\/h2>
What do red pandas look like<\/h2>
What role do the patterns on their fur play?\u00a0<\/h2>
Where do red pandas live?<\/h2>
What do red pandas eat?<\/h2>