Pandas

Red pandas are medium-sized mammals with striking coloration. Their coat is colored reddish to dark chestnut on the back and darker on their legs and belly. They have a striped tail, white on the face and the front of the ears, and red or brown stripes from the outside corners of the eyes to the corners of the mouth. Adult red pandas are 20-24 in (50-60 cm) long, with a bushy 11-19 in (28-49 cm) tail, and weigh 7-10 lb (3-4.5 kg). They are native to Himalayan conifer-bamboo forest, at altitudes of 4,900-13,000 ft (1,500-4,000 m). Red pandas are nocturnal, foraging for food on the ground at night, and sleeping in trees during the day. Like giant pandas, red pandas eat mainly bamboo (although they eat only the leaves, not the stems), supplementing their diet with grasses, fruits, and small animals such as insects.

Red pandas are mainly solitary and territorial, with the territory of a male overlapping that of several females during the breeding season. One or two young are born in mid-May to mid-July after a 3-5 month gestation period. Females give birth in a tree-hole and raise the young alone. The young are weaned at five months, and become sexually mature at 18-20 months of age.

Like giant pandas, red pandas are classified in the order Carnivora. Within this order, the red pandas are usually placed in the raccoon family (Procyonidae). However, the World Conservation Union (the IUCN) places the red panda in its own family, the Ailuridae. This is partly because the red pandas are found only in the Old World, while members of the raccoon family occur in the New World.

Red pandas are found over a much wider range than giant pandas, although this is still a relatively small area. They are found in the Himalayas, from Nepal to Sichuan and Tibet. At present some researchers estimate the Nepalese population size of red pandas to be only 300, although other workers argue that this estimate is too low. Population sizes in other areas of the range of the red panda are unknown, but are thought to be declining. The IUCN classifies the red panda as threatened.

Like giant pandas, red pandas are affected by habitat destruction and poaching. Deforestation removes not only their food supply, but also the trees in which they roost. Some red panda habitat is protected in the system of Chinese reserves designed for the giant panda. However, the situation in other parts of the red panda's range is unclear. Red pandas are still hunted for their fur and, in places, for their meat. CITES has reduced the illegal trade in red pandas, although animal dealers may get around the convention by falsely stating that their animals originated in a captive-breeding program. Captive breeding of red pandas is relatively successful, with five programs world-wide.