Mary Allen
Name: Red Panda
Other names: red panda, cat bear, fire fox
Latin name: Ailurus fugens
Class: Mammals
Size: approx. 60cm (head-torso-length)
Weight: 3 – 6 kg
Age: 6 – 15 years
Appearance: Red fur on the back, black fur on the chest and abdomen
Sexual Dimorphism: Yes
Diet type: mainly herbivorous
Food: Bamboo, berries, fruits, bird eggs, insects
Distribution: Nepal, Myanmar, India
original origin: Asia
Sleep-wake cycle: nocturnal
Habitat: Tropical rainforest, mountain forests
natural enemies: marten, leopard
Sexual maturity: around the beginning of the third year of life
Mating season: January – February
Gestation period: 125 – 140 days
Litter size: 1 – 4 pups
Social behavior: loner
Critically Endangered: Yes
What do red pandas eat?
Red pandas feed mainly on leaves and bamboo, but occasionally snack on fruit, insects, bird eggs, and small lizards, too.
What are 5 things red pandas eat?
Because red pandas are obligate bamboo eaters, they are on a tight energy budget for much of the year. They may also forage for roots, succulent grasses, fruits, insects, and grubs, and are known to occasionally kill and eat birds and small mammals.
Does a red panda eat meat?
Red panda are classed as carnivores due to their digestive systems, and as Kristin explains, as they don’t eat meat they need to eat a considerable amount of bamboo to keep them full – in the wild, they can spend up to 13 hours each day foraging for food!
What can red pandas not eat?
Red pandas may have the digestive system of a carnivore, but they are practically vegetarians. About 95% of their diet is bamboo! They eat the nutritious leaf tips and tender shoots, but skip the culm (woody stem). They also forage for roots, grasses, fruits, insects, and grubs.
Interesting facts about the red panda
The red panda or Ailurus fugens is considered the only representative of the red pandas and is also known under the names fire fox, bear cat, or golden dog.
It only inhabits some southwestern regions of China and the east of the Himalayan mountains from Nepal to Myanmar.
There it lives at altitudes between two thousand and four thousand meters in mountain forests and jungles densely overgrown with bamboo.
The red panda prefers temperatures up to a maximum of 25° C. If it gets too hot in the midday sun, it retreats to cool rock caves or sleeps stretched out in the treetops.
The red panda weighs up to six kilograms with a shoulder height of a maximum of 30 centimetres. It has fur that is copper-red on top, black on the chest and abdomen, and has a bushy, yellowish, indistinctly ringed tail. The face has the characteristic white markings.
As a predominantly crepuscular and nocturnal mammal, the red panda tends to stay in one place and hangs out in the branches of trees most of the time. Red pandas are rarely out and about in the early hours of the morning.
Red pandas generally live as loners, but they can also form small family groups.
In order to defend its territorial claim against conspecifics, the red panda not only regularly paces the branches, but also the ground, emitting an odorous secretion that is strongly reminiscent of the smell of musk.
He owes his name Katzenbär, which is common in German-speaking countries, to his habit of cleaning himself thoroughly after a nap by licking his entire fur clean like a cat.
The red panda is a predatory omnivore, feeding primarily on bamboo but also preying on small rodents, birds and their eggs, and large insects. In addition, fruits, berries, acorns, grasses, and roots also serve as important food sources.
Many red pandas fall victim to martens and snow leopards.
In case of danger, the red panda retreats into crevices or up a tree. If he is attacked on the ground, he stands on his hind legs and defends himself with paws, which can sometimes inflict serious injuries on the pursuer with his sharp claws.
The red panda mating season is from January to February. Mating occurs only after the male bites the female’s neck.
After an average gestation period of 130 days, the female gives birth to one or more blind young in a nest cavity lined with plant material. They are suckled by their mother for five months.
In the wild, the life expectancy of the red panda is around ten years, but captive specimens can live up to fifteen years.