RED PANDA
Image:
Male Ravi - Photo Courtesy of the
Sedgwick County Zoo
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ailurus fulgens fulgens
HOUSE NAME: Male "Ravi", Females "Paprika",
HABITAT: Mountain forests from Nepal to Northern Burma and into central China.
CONSERVATION STATUS: Endangered
CONSERVATION RESOURCES:
Red Panda Network AZA SAFE Program
FUN FACT:
A special rotating ankle joint enables them to descend trees head first like a squirrel, allowing them to hit the ground running. Can jump 5 feet from branch to branch, but avoid doing so if they can climb to where they are going.
DESCRIPTION:
Sometimes called the “firefox”, “red-cat-bear”, or “lesser panda”, the red panda is the size of a large house cat, and weighs 6-10 lbs. The body measures about 2 ft. long. The bushy, ringed tail is about 15-19 in. long. Upper parts of the body are rusty to deep chestnut, darkest down the middle of the back. Has small dark eye patches. Muzzle, lips, cheeks, and edges of ears are white. Back of ears, legs and underparts are dark reddish brown to black. Head is round, and ears are large. Feet have thickly furred pads like small, white soled “mukluks”. They have tiny, fleshy projections in a cluster on the tip of the lower side of the tongue that are used for tasting. They also have a small pit in their mouth called the Jacobsen organ, which aids their sense of smell. Located just behind the upper incisor teeth, it is lined with receptor cells, and connected by a small duct to the nasal passages. Like the giant panda (which is classified with the bear family - i.e., not presently thought to be related), the red panda has an extra “thumb” on both of its forepaws to help it grasp bamboo.