Red panda....

Hey did you ever see below Pic’s of panda in Mogli. In the Mogli, with the fictional character he had friend called "PAPU" actually it is a panda. A rare species animal from north east India and south China.

 Let’s know about this rare and cute animal.

 Classification:-

Kingdom: Animalia                          Phylum: Chordata                         Class:  Mammalia

Order:Carnivora                           Suborder: Caniformia                     Family: Ailuridae

Genus: Ailurus                               Species:A. fulgens

Red panda is a mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a waddling gait due to its shorter front legs; it is slightly larger than a domestic cat. It is arboreal, feeds mainly on bamboo, but also eats eggs, birds, and insects. It is a solitary animal, mainly active from dusk to dawn, and is largely sedentary during the day.

The head and body length of a red panda measures 50 to 64 cm (20 to 25 in), and its tail is 28 to 59 cm (11 to 23 in). Males weigh 3.7 to 6.2 kg (8.2 to 13.7 lb) and females 3 to 6.0 kg (6.6 to 13.2 lb). They have long, soft, reddish-brown fur on the upper parts, blackish fur on the lower parts, and a light face with tear markings and robust cranio dental features. The light face has white badges similar to those of a raccoon, but each individual can have distinctive markings. Their roundish heads have medium-sized upright ears, black noses, and blackish eyes. Their long, bushy tails with six alternating transverse ochre rings provide balance and excellent camouflage against their habitat of moss- and lichen-covered trees. The legs are black and short with thick fur on the soles of the paws. This fur serves as thermal insulation on snow-covered or icy surfaces and conceals scent glands, which are also present on the anus.

The red panda is territorial; it is solitary except during mating season. The species is generally quiet except for some twittering, tweeting, and whistling communication sounds. It has been reported to be both nocturnal and crepuscular, sleeping on tree branches or in tree hollows during the day and increasing its activity in the late afternoon and early evening hours. It sleeps stretched out on a branch with legs dangling when it is hot, and curled up with its tail over the face when it is cold. This animal is very heat sensitive, with an optimal “well-being” temperature between 17 and 25 °C (63 and 77 °F), and cannot tolerate temperatures over 25 °C (77 °F).

The red panda’s diet is very unusual for a mammal and consists mostly of bamboo. When the weather is warm enough, they also eat insects and fruit. Although the giant panda eats almost every part of the bamboo plant (except the roots), the red panda only eats the youngest, most tender shoots and leaves. In addition, the red panda chews the bamboo thoroughly, whereas the giant panda hardly chews at all.

The red panda’s preference for bamboo is apparently an ancient adaptation, as indicated by fossils of similar animals that have been found in Eastern Europe and North America.These specimens date back to the Miocene (25 to 5 million years ago) and Pliocene (5 to 2 million years ago) periods, leading scientists to believe that bamboo and red panda-like animals have historically been found in many areas of the planet.

It is likely that the range of the bamboo has increased and decreased with changes in global temperature and moisture, and fortunately for the red panda, bamboo still thrives in many parts of the southern Asia.

Protecting the red panda goes hand in hand with protecting its habitat. In the past, the dense root systems and undergrowth of Nepal’s forests could be relied upon to retain moisture and slow water runoff. Recently, however, logging and other forms of forest degradation have upset this balance and sent rich soil cascading down mountainsides with the annual monsoons. Many Nepalese people count on the red panda’s habitat for their survival, and this problem cannot disappear on its own. For example, Lang tang National Park in Nepal is considered to be an important area for red pandas, but 30,000 people live near the park and depend on its resources.

The reality is that these people are not opposed to change. Rather, they lack viable economic alternatives. By working directly with the people of the PIS Corridor, we aim to create a new system in which conserving the red panda’s prime habitat will actually benefit the surrounding communities.

Red pandas have a long gestation period (roughly 135 days) for an animal that weighs only 11 pounds at maturity. They also have small litters, producing about two cubs on average. Despite the amount of food that red pandas eat; they grow quite slowly, reaching adult size after 12 months. The young become sexually mature at 18 months. As a result of these characteristics, red pandas have a slow rate of reproduction and have a great deal of difficulty recovering from population declines.