Animal Xploration- Issue 3

Reliable news about the Red panda

Greetings, everyone! I'm Renee the Red panda and I'm here to bring you all on an INCREDIBLE adventure to the animal world right now, well today. I am red (my name says so) and I am dwarfed by the black and white giant that lives in China (the Giant panda). Us, Red pandas typically grow to the size of a house cat, though our great, big, bushy tails add an additional eighteen inches. We have a taste for bamboo but, unlike our larger relatives, we eat many other foods as well, like fruit, acorns, roots, and eggs. Like giant pandas, we have an extended wrist bone that functions almost like a thumb and greatly aids our grip. We are distantly related to the larger, better-known black-and-white giant panda. We are solitary creatures found in the mountains of Nepal, Myanmar, and central China. Unlike the giant panda, we are NOT bears. Scientists, in fact, believe that we are more closely related to raccoons and skunks. That was what I heard from a scientist one day when he was taking photographs of me. Speaking of bears, do you know that bears belong to the CAT family? Interesting, ain't it?

We are not really erm, well what you say, 'well- known' round the world like our relatives the giant panda, but people still know us. You would know us if you watch 'Kung fu Panda'. The Red panda's 'Master Shifu', supposedly the giant panda Po's master if you know the movie. 


Whoa, about the movie. Get back to the fun facts about us. Talking about the movie was just a little bit of fun from all those fun facts. 
Is the Red panda ENDANGERED?
If you think the answer is no, then you are really wrong about that. The red panda has been classified as vulnerable by IUCN because its population is estimated at fewer than 10,000 mature individuals. Though red pandas are protected by national laws in their range countries, their numbers in the wild continue to decline mainly due to habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and inbreeding depression. Poor us. :( But there's still good news! During a survey in the 1970s, signs of red pandas were found in Nepal's Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve. Their presence was confirmed in spring, only in the year 2007 when four red pandas were sighted at elevations ranging from 3,220 to 3,610 m (10,560 to 11,840 ft). The species' westernmost limit is in Rara National Park located farther west of the Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve. Their presence was confirmed only in the year 2008.

I do hope that the humans would save us from being endangered. Please stop destroying our habitats.

From RENEE The Red Panda :)