Chester Zoo 

Red Panda

The Red Panda’s distinctive rich red coat provides perfect camouflage in the forests in which it lives where many trees are coated with reddy brown moss. The animal’s chestnut colour graduates to black on its legs with white fur on the soles of its feet. The long bushy tail is ringed with 12 alternating bands of red and light brown. Its face is mainly white, making a striking contrast with the rest of its coat and its dark eyes and nose. The inside of the ears is white, along with the area around the nose and there are two white tufts above the eyes. Two reddish tear drop markings run from the corner of each eye to its mouth. Red Pandas have an unusual shaped wrist bone which can be used like a ‘false thumb’.

What they eat

Mainly bamboo, occasionally supplemented with roots, fruit, small lizards and bird’s eggs.

How long they live

Up to 14 years.

Biology

Though agile and good climbers, Red Pandas have a very slow body metabolism meaning they are usually only active at dawn and dusk. They are solitary and territorial, though male and female turf will often overlap, each making their territory with scents. They mate on the ground but females nest in hollows in trees or rock dens, the young being born helpless and blind for almost three weeks before they open their eyes. They remain in the nest being tended by their mother for about three months. Males rarely help with the young. At birth they are grey, with usually two cubs in a litter. They are sexually mature at about 18 months.

Did you know?

One reason for the demise of the Red Panda is that its pelt is much prized by newly weds in China’s Yunnan province where hats made from its fur traditionally symbolise a happy marriage.