Red Panda Facts: Behavior, Habitat, Diet & More

Red pandas are adorable tree dwelling mammals with distinctive rust colored fur white facial markings and long bushy tails with alternating red and white rings. Despite their name and bamboo diet red pandas are not closely related to giant pandas.

Why They Digest Only Twenty Four Percent

Red pandas eat primarily bamboo which comprises about ninety nine percent of their diet. They consume two to four pounds of bamboo daily focusing on the most tender leaves and shoots. However red pandas have carnivore digestive systems poorly suited for processing plant material. They can digest only about twenty four percent of the bamboo they eat far less than giant pandas who have specialized gut bacteria.

How Ankles Rotate for Headfirst Climbing

Red pandas have thick reddish brown fur that provides insulation in cold mountain climates. Dense fur covers the soles of their feet providing warmth and traction on icy branches. Red pandas have semi retractable claws and flexible ankles that rotate allowing them to climb down trees headfirst like squirrels. Red pandas are highly arboreal spending most of their lives in trees.

Why Cubs Remain Ninety Days in Nests

Red pandas breed once per year during winter months. After a gestation period of about one hundred thirty five days females give birth to litters of one to four cubs though twins are most common. Mothers build nests in tree hollows, rock crevices, or bamboo thickets. Cubs are born blind, deaf, and helpless covered in gray fur.

How They Drape Over Branches to Cool

Red pandas sleep, eat, and travel through the forest canopy. During hot weather red pandas drape themselves over branches with legs dangling to stay cool. They descend to the ground mainly to move between trees or defecate. Red pandas are most active during dawn and dusk resting during midday heat.

Why Ten Thousand Remain in the Wild

Red pandas are classified as endangered with an estimated ten thousand individuals remaining in the wild. Major threats include habitat loss from deforestation, agricultural expansion, and development. Illegal poaching for fur and the pet trade continues despite legal protections. Domestic dogs spread diseases to red pandas and sometimes kill them.

How Firefox Got Its Name

Red pandas were named before giant pandas. When giant pandas were discovered they received their name due to similarity in diet rather than genetics. Red pandas are sometimes called firefox which directly translates from their Chinese name. The Mozilla Firefox web browser uses a red panda as its logo though many people mistakenly think the logo shows a fox.