Looking more like a Racoon than a Giant Panda, the Red Panda has striking chestnut fur, a bushy, striped tail and a white face.
Looking more like a Racoon than a Giant Panda, the Red Panda has striking chestnut fur, a bushy, striped tail and a white face. They are a lot smaller than giant pandas, only reaching 50-60cm in body length and weighing 3-5kg. Over recent years scientists have been unsure on how to class the red panda as it is often thought to resemble a racoon, and unlike the Giant panda the red panda is not actually a bear. It hasn’t been until recently that they now have been classified in their own unique family, Ailuridae. Red pandas are actually the original panda and were discovered 48yrs before the Giant panda Red pandas are mainly active at dawn and dusk, spending most of the day resting in the trees. They spend most of their time in trees and are well adapted for such a life. The pads of their feet are covered in hair to prevent them slipping and they can jump up to from branch to branch. Red Pandas are normally solitary, only coming together at the beginning of the breeding season for mating. The young are born in a hollow tree, fully furred but blind and helpless. They generally stay with their mother until the following breeding season. They are territorial, marking the boundaries with scent, using urine and substances secreted from their foot pads, also by faeces deposited at specially dug latrines. Red Pandas are called ‘Wha’ and ‘Chitwa’ by locals due to their twittering call used for communication. They are increasingly threatened by habitat loss and hunting by locals. Red pandas are Vulnerable in the wild due to habitat loss, as their forest homes are being cut down for timber, fuel and land. Red pandas are also hunted for the pet and fur trades. Their fur is then made into clothing and hats to keep the locals warm
Size: 3456px × 5184px
Location: Colchester, Essex, England
Photo credit: © Mark Redsell / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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