The red panda is a high-flying Asian. The red panda lives in very remote bamboo forests at an altitude of over 4000 meters in the eastern Himalayas. It can therefore be experienced when hiking, trekking or mountaineering in stunning Nepal , China , Bhutan or Burma. The red panda is easy to see in its white mountainous surroundings, which are in stark contrast to the very distinctive red color of the red panda.
Facts about the red panda
| Location: | Asia, the Himalayan mountain range and China |
| Life expectancy: | 13 years |
| Weight: | 3 to 6 kilos |
| Size: | 79-112 centimeters long |
| Food: | Fruits and plants |
| Quantity: | Endangered animals |
| Fun fact: | The mating of the red panda takes place underground in hiding. |
Characteristics
The red panda is about 79 to 112 centimeters long, here its long tail is also included. The body of the red panda is about 55 to 65 centimeters long, where it has a thick and long tail in a length of 35 to 47 centimeters. It is 25 to 30 centimeters high and weighs 3 to 6 kilograms. The red panda’s fur is funny enough red, with white snout, ears and cheeks. The coat is long and coarse. Under the coarse coat it is softer and woolly. The abdomen is typically dark / black, and so are its legs. The color of the coat may vary slightly depending on the distribution area, where in the east the red panda is slightly darker than that in the west. The red panda is easily recognizable with its very distinctive red fur color and white face mask. The red panda is often called the cat bear or the little panda, due to its small physique.
Food
The red panda is vegetarian, which means it eats various fruits and plants. These include berries, shoots, bamboo leaves and leaves from other plants. It can also steal bird eggs. Bamboo leaves are its primary food to consume. The panda bends the bamboo branches down with its forepaws so that it can reach the leaves with its mouth. It also makes use of the paws to eat with and carry food to the mouth with. The red panda is active at night and sleeps during the day, it is also most of the time up in the trees and is really good at climbing. The red panda has a very wide head due to its flat cheek teeth. This makes it easy for the panda to crush the very hard bamboo and ingest them without any problems.
Pregnancy
The red panda is pregnant about 134 days, giving birth to about 1 to four pups. Adult pandas very rarely have contact with each other, it is only in the mating season where they come into contact with each other. Both males and females scent mark with urine during the mating season. They do this by rubbing their genitals against trees, rocks and various objects to tell the opposite sex that they are ready for mating. When both sexes are ready for mating, the female invites her ready for mating to go underground, where mating takes place here. It is rare for the female to invite only one male panda, if there are several nearby she also mates with them.
Herds
The red panda is not a herd animal, which means that it lives its life very much alone and is only seen with the opposite sex when mating. The behavior of the red panda is very dependent on the temperature, food items and whether there are young or not. That is, therefore, the different red pandas can make something vastly different depending on where they come from and where they are located. However, the panda spends most of its life up in the trees where it is at its best. When it is on earth, it is because it has not been able to find more food up in the tree it was in. On earth, the red panda moves very slowly. The way it comes up from the tree is with its claws, where it climbs its way up. Whereas when it comes down from a tree, it is done with the head first, and here the tail is used to keep the balance.
Family
The red panda is related to the giant panda, but despite its name, it is not closely related at all. However, there are several different common features, one of the common features is a thumb-like finger, which allows it to handle food. The red panda has hair on its foot pads, which can also be seen in the giant panda and the polar bear. These hairs allow it to better keep warm and not slide so easily up in the Himalayan mountains when walking on ice. The red panda is not in close family with anyone, not even the giant panda. The red panda is a half bear just like the raccoon is.
