The Main Facts about Red Panda

Categories: Animals

Geographical Range and Habitat

Red pandas live mostly in Asia in the Eastern Himalayas like: China, Bhutan, Burma and Nepal. Red pandas live in the forest, where there's water, fallen logs, and bamboo. The reason why they need the bamboo is because they mostly make their house out of bamboo, and tree branches. In india red pandas like to live in tropical forests.

Conservation Status

Red pandas are endangered, less than 10,000 are left.You might be asking why? Well...there are many, many, many reasons.

But I ́ll give you the four main reasons. Deforestation, accidental trapping, pet trading, and being killed illegally (aka poaching). Some things that we can do to try to save red pandas from extinction are: try planting more bamboo. Enforce the law of poaching these animals. We can also require tourists to have permits. Not letting people come see/tour red pandas during breeding season. Last but no least improve fire protection.

Mammal Characteristics

The reason why the Red Panda is a mammal is because they give live birth, and are also warm blooded.

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Another reason is that they have fur that is warm and soft. And the moms produce milk to feed their children. That is why the Red pandas are mammals. Red pandas are Ailuridae. Which technically is a family in the mammal order carnivora.

Physical Description

Red pandas have warm, soft, thick fur that will keep them warm during cool seasons. Their fur is mostly reddish-brownish-blackish fur with a bit of white. They have a long bushy tail in a stripe pattern, there tails look like a raccoon's tail.

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Those tails help them curl up and stay warm if there cold. Red pandas feet are very similar to most mammals feet. For example Red pandas claws are like cats claws. How? Well… they are both really sharp and can be pulled back. They also have white fur in their souls so there feet won't get cold, and also so they won't slip, and keep their balance from slippery and damp branches. Usually male Red Pandas weight up to 8.2-14 lbs and female Red pandas 6.6-13 lbs. Red panda head and body are 20-26 inches, and there tails 12-20 inches. Red pandas can live up to 23 years. But most of the time if left in the wild it would be 8-10 years. If kept in captivity it would usually be 14 years.

Specialized Structures

You might be wondering, what do Red pandas use to defend themselves? Well… the answer is...claws. They don't use claws to climb trees, or shredded bamboo. They use it for self defense. Red pandas will stand up with their back two legs and start hissing and growling. Like I've said before their claws are like cat claws. Red pandas also dip their paws into water to drink, like racoons. They also have this wrist bone that works as a fake thumb for the bamboo like real pandas.

Responses to Change

Like i've said previously Red Pandas have soft warm thick fur that helps them survive in cold temperatures, they mostly live in 50-70 degrees fahrenheit, although they are really comfortable in the mid 30's. Red Pandas would mostly eat bamboo: bamboo leaf tips, bamboo shoots. But that doesn't mean that they only eat that, they can also eat grass, roots, fallen fruits, aircorns, insects, sometimes even birds. But you will mostly see them with bamboo in there hand. Also Red Pandas don't hibernate or migrate.

Animal Diet

Red Pandas are carnivores but they kind of hide it and it makes them seem herbivores. So… I would say they are omnivores. which means that they eat plants, and can eat meat. Red Pandas are scavengers. Red Pandas are in the second trophic level. Red Pandas are also secondary producers. Red pandas only have 2 predators snow leopards and martens.

Animal Living

Red Pandas live in packs and on trees. They can communicate by whistling and twittering at eachother like i've said before. Red Pandas are pretty lonely...except during breeding seasons. If they are kept in captivity the pairs will last at least a year together.

Animal Behavior

Some learned behavior that red pandas have to learn is to defend/care for the young. Since the young can't really do anything. To learn how to find food. And they have to learn how to find their own habitat, since they live in trees. Some innate behavior of Red Pandas is, being nocturnal. At night time they awoke to find food, and mark their territory with urine. They also clean themselves like cats ( they are a little big bigger than cats) and communicate with whistles, and twittering sounds.Like I've said before when Red Pandas are in trouble, or are about to fight, they stand up on their back two feet and start hissing and growling.

Animal Reproduction

Usually red pandas mate, outside of mating season. The female invites the male to mount her on the ground. After that the males leaves there scents by urinating on a tree or were they mated. The gestation period for a red panda is 132-134 days. Red pandas usually have 2-4 babies. There babies are born covered with fur, weighting 3-4 ounces or 90-110 grams. The mother will stay with the cub for about a year after that they are fully grown and are allowed to leave.

Fun Facts

Most people don't know this but red pandas actually have 2 relatives that are extinct. So red pandas live in the Eastern Himalayas, right. A few years ago they found fossils near the United kingdom, the animal was called, 'Giant Panda' (There not related to the modern giant panda). Then they found more fossils, in spain, Eastern Europe, and even the United States. About 5 million years ago Tennessee was the home for the GIANT Red Pandas. But sadly they were extinct after racoons arrived. Also Red pandas have an internet browser named after them. Which one? You might ask, well it's the 'Firefox'. Firefox means red panda. Mozilla (the developer) wanted to name the internet browser firebird, but later found out that someone else was using it, so they decided to go with Firefox. Later Mozilla adopted 2 baby Red pandas (That was in 2010).

Sources

  • Red Panda | National Geographic." Nationalgeographic.Com, 21 Sept. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/r/red-panda/.
  • The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. "Red Panda | Characteristics, Habitat, & Facts." Encyclopædia Britannica, 22 Feb. 2019,.
  • "Red Panda Facts | Red Panda Network." Red Panda Network, 2018, "Red Panda Facts | Red Panda Network." Red Panda Network, 2018, www.redpandanetwork.org/red-panda-facts/. Accessed 22 Nov. 2019.
  • Dunagan, Judd. "Saving the Red Panda." Pegasus, 27 Sept. 2016
  • "12 Furry Facts About Red Pandas." Mentalfloss.Com, 18 July 2018, www.mentalfloss.com/article/63578/12-furry-facts-about-red-pandas. Accessed 22 Nov. 2019.
  • Marshall Cavendish Corporation. Rain Forests of the World. New York, Marshall Cavendish, 2002.
Updated: Feb 17, 2024
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The Main Facts about Red Panda. (2024, Feb 17). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-main-facts-about-red-panda-essay

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