The Red Panda

The red panda, (or firefox as it is often called) is a very rare and unique creature that lives beneath the forest canopy in the mountains in Nepal, Bhutan, India, Laos and Myanmar. There are two different subspecies, which live in slightly different geographical areas. As implied by their name, red pandas are red and have white and black markings. Their legs and bellies are black and their tails are ringed. They even have fur on the soles of their feet, which helps them stay warm in the high altitudes where they live.

The red panda mainly eats bamboo and will spend up to thirteen hours a day searching for and eating bamboo. The red panda only eats the young, tender shoots and leaves. They will also eat fruit, berries, blossoms, insects, and bird eggs. Occasionally they eat fungi, seeds, acorns, young birds, and small rodents. Litters of red pandas range from one to four babies. Newborn cubs are covered in thick gray fur and weigh only four to five ounces. Their eyes and ears are closed at birth and slowly open around the second day of birth. Cubs stay in the nest for about ninety days and stay with Mom until the next mating season.

Red pandas are endangered mainly due to loss of habitat, but also due to hunting for their fur to make hats, coats, skins, etc. Many donations are being collected for new habitats and parks in which the red pandas can reproduce and help stop them from going extinct. Many people are trying very hard to keep the cute and friendly animal around, for red pandas, and every other animal species, do not deserve to go extinct.