Red panda

The red panda (Ailurus fulgens), also called the lesser panda, is a small mammal from the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has thick reddish-brown fur, a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white face, and a ringed tail. It is about 51 to 63.5 cm (20.1 to 25.0 in) long from head to body, with a tail of 28 to 48.5 cm (11.0 to 19.1 in). It weighs between 3.2 and 15 kg (7.1 and 33.1 lb). Its flexible joints and curved claws, which can be pulled back in, help it climb well.

The red panda was first described in 1825. Scientists recognise two subspecies, the Himalayan and the Chinese red panda, which genetically diverged about 250,000 years ago. For a long time, scientists have wondered where the red panda fits on the evolutionary tree. Modern genetic evidence shows it is closely linked to raccoons, weasels, and skunks. It is not closely related to the giant panda, which is a bear. Both animals have extra wrist bones, called "false thumbs," that help them grip bamboo. The red panda's lineage (Ailuridae) goes back around 25 to 18 million years, as shown by extinct fossil relatives found in Eurasia and North America.

The red panda lives in coniferous forests and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests. It likes steep slopes with thick bamboo close to water. It is solitary and mostly arboreal, which means it spends most of its time in trees. Its diet is mainly bamboo shoots and leaves, but it also eats fruits and blossoms. Red pandas mate in early spring, and females give birth to litters of up to four cubs in summer. The species faces threats from poaching and from the destruction and fragmentation of its home, which is caused by deforestation. Since 2015, it has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. It is protected in all range countries.

People are working to protect the red panda. There are community-based conservation programmes in Nepal, Bhutan, and northeastern India. In China, it benefits from nature conservation projects. Regional captive breeding programmes have been set up in zoos around the world. The red panda also appears in animated movies, video games, and comic books, and it has given its name to companies and music bands.

Etymology

The origin of the name panda is not certain. One of the most likely ideas is that it came from the Nepali word "ponya." The word pajā or pañjā means "ball of the foot" and "claws." The Nepali words "nigalya ponya" have been translated as "bamboo-footed," and they are thought to be the red panda's Nepali name. In English, it was simply called panda. For more than 40 years, it was the only animal with that name. Later, it became known as the red panda or lesser panda so it could be told apart from the giant panda, which was formally described and named in 1869.

The genus name Ailurus comes from the Ancient Greek word ailouros, which means "cat." The specific epithet fulgens is Latin for "shining, bright."

Taxonomy

The red panda was described and named in 1825 by Frederic Cuvier. He gave it the scientific name Ailurus fulgens. His description was based on zoological specimens from "the mountains north of India" and on a report by Alfred Duvaucel. Thomas Hardwicke had described it earlier, in 1821, but his paper was not published until 1827. Today, the red panda is the only recognised species in its group, the genus Ailurus. It is often split into two subspecies: the Himalayan red panda and the Chinese red panda. Genetic studies show that the two groups have been separated for about 250,000 years. DNA sequencing of samples from Northeast India and China found that the Siang (Brahmaputra) River forms the border between them. Scientists think this split may have happened because of glaciation on the southern Tibetan Plateau during the Pleistocene.

Scientists have long debated where the red panda belongs on the evolutionary tree. In the early 1900s, some placed it in the family Procyonidae, which includes raccoons. Many also thought it was related to the giant panda, which was later found to be a bear. In 1982, a study gave it its own family, Ailuridae. A 1995 study of mitochondrial DNA found that it was closely related to procyonids. Later genetic studies placed it in the clade Musteloidea. This group also includes Procyonidae, Mustelidae (weasels and relatives), and Mephitidae (skunks and relatives). The family Ailuridae probably appeared in Europe in the Late Oligocene or Early Miocene, about 25 to 18 million years ago. The earliest member, Amphictis, may have been about the same size as the modern species. Later, the "true" red pandas, in the subfamily Ailurinae, became smaller and adapted to eating plants. The modern red panda's family line adapted to a bamboo diet. Its false thumb later also helped with feeding. Scientists sequenced the genome of the red panda in 2017 and compared it with the giant panda's. This helps them study convergent evolution, where unrelated animals develop similar features. Both pandas have false thumbs and eat bamboo, even though they have a carnivore's digestive system. Both show changes in limb development genes (DYNC2H1 and PCNT). Both also have reactivated taste receptor genes for bitterness, though the specific genes differ. A study of 53 red panda samples from Sichuan and Yunnan showed a high level of genetic diversity. One specimen was collected in Sichuan.

Description

The red panda's coat is mostly red or orange-brown, with a black belly and legs. Its muzzle, cheeks, eyebrows, and the edges of its inner ears are mostly white. Its bushy tail has red and buff rings and a dark brown tip. These colours may help it camouflage itself among red moss and white lichen-covered trees. Its coat has longer, rougher guard hairs on top and a thick, soft undercoat underneath. It has fairly long whiskers around its mouth, lower jaw, and chin. The hair on the soles of its paws helps it walk in snow.

The red panda has a fairly small head with a short snout, triangular ears, and legs that are nearly the same length. Its head and body measure 51–63.5 cm (20.1–25.0 in), and its tail is 28–48.5 cm (11.0–19.1 in) long. Its weight depends on where it lives. Himalayan red pandas weigh 3.2–9.4 kg (7.1–20.7 lb). Chinese red pandas weigh 4–15 kg (8.8–33.1 lb) for females and 4.2–13.4 kg (9.3–29.5 lb) for males. Each foot has five curved digits with claws that help it climb. Its pelvis and back legs have flexible joints. Its tail cannot grip, but it helps the animal balance. Its front paws have a "false thumb" made from an extension of a wrist bone, the radial sesamoid, which helps it hold bamboo. Its digestive system has a simple stomach, no clear division between the ileum and colon, and no caecum. Both sexes have anal glands that release a fluid containing fatty acids, cholesterol, squalene, and 2-Piperidinone. People often describe its smell as like ammonia or pepper.

Distribution and habitat

The red panda lives in Nepal, the Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal, and Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutan, northern Myanmar, and the southern parts of Tibet, Sichuan, and Yunnan in China. Its home covers at most 47,100 km² in the temperate climate zone of the Himalayas. There the average yearly temperature is 18–24 °C. It has been seen at heights of 2,000–4,300 m.

In Nepal, it lives in six protected areas within the Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests. Its westernmost sightings were made in three community forests in Kalikot District in 2019. Its easternmost range is in Panchthar and Ilam Districts. There, patches of forest are surrounded by villages, grassy pastures for animals, and roads. In the Kangchenjunga area of Sikkim and northern West Bengal, its groups in protected areas are partly connected by wildlife corridors and old-growth forests. These forests have Himalayan oaks (Quercus lamellosa and Q. semecarpifolia), Himalayan birch, Himalayan fir, and Himalayan maple. Bamboo, Rhododendron, and some black juniper shrubs grow in the understoreys. In Bhutan and in Arunachal Pradesh's Pangchen Valley, West Kameng and Shi Yomi districts, it uses bamboo such as Yushania and Thamnocalamus. It also uses whitebeam and chinquapin trees. In China, it lives in the Hengduan Mountains subalpine conifer forests and Qionglai-Minshan conifer forests of Sichuan. This includes the Xiaoxiang and Daxiangling mountains.

The red panda prefers microhabitats within 70–240 m of water. Fallen logs and tree stumps are important because they help it reach bamboo leaves. It often uses steep slopes. In Phrumsengla National Park, it used slopes with a thick canopy and tall bamboo. In Dafengding Nature Reserve, it prefers steep south-facing slopes in winter. In Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve, it lives in forests with a thick canopy and many bamboo plants. In some parts of China, it lives near the giant panda. However, it prefers steeper slopes with more bamboo stems, shrubs, and fallen logs. This niche separation means the two bamboo-eating animals do not compete as much.

Red pandas are hard to see in the wild, so most studies of their behaviour have been done in captivity. They seem to be nocturnal and crepuscular, which means they are most active at night and at dawn and dusk. They sleep in short bursts at night. They usually rest or sleep in trees or other high places. On hot days they stretch out on a branch, and on cold days they curl up with a hind leg over their face. Red pandas are built for climbing, and they come down a tree head-first. On the ground, they move quickly by trotting or bounding. Adults usually live alone and are territorial. They mark their home range or territory with urine, faeces and fluids from the anal and nearby glands, usually on the ground. In China's Wolong National Nature Reserve, a female's home range was about 0.94 km², and a male's was about 1.11 km².

Red pandas eat mostly plants, especially bamboo from groups like Phyllostachys, Sinarundinaria, Thamnocalamus and Chimonobambusa. They also eat fruits, flowers, acorns, eggs, birds and small mammals. Bamboo leaves may be their most common food all year. Studies in Singalila National Park found bamboo shoots, Actinidia strigosa fruits, silky rose, bramble fruit, Actinidia callosa, Merrilliopanax alpinus, tree rhododendron, stone oak species, Campbell's magnolia, holly and many other plants in their droppings. In Rara National Park, bamboo was found in every dropping sample, both before and after the monsoon. Their summer diet in Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve includes some barberries, and in Jigme Dorji National Park, their droppings held seeds of Himalayan ivy. Red pandas cannot fully digest bamboo because their gut is similar to that of a meat eater. So they must eat large amounts of the most nutritious plant parts. They chew with their cheek teeth and move food quickly through their gastrointestinal tract. Their metabolic rate is similar to other mammals of their size. They digest almost a third of dry matter, more than the giant panda's 17 per cent. Gut microbiota may help them process bamboo.

At least seven kinds of sounds have been recorded, including growls, barks, squeals, hoots, bleats, grunts and twitters. During play fighting and aggressive fighting, red pandas curve their backs and tails and move their heads in a set way before they strike.

Red pandas are long-day breeders, meaning they breed in the spring, after the winter solstice. Their babies are born from May to August. Gestation lasts about 131 days. Before the babies are born, the mother builds a nest in a hollow or crevice. A litter has one to four cubs. The cubs depend on their mother for several months and reach sexual maturity, meaning they become able to have young, at about 18 months.

Red pandas have been recorded falling prey to leopards in the wild. Their droppings have held several kinds of tiny living things, including protozoa, amoebozoans, roundworms, trematodes, tapeworms and coccidia. Fourteen red pandas at the Knoxville Zoo had a serious skin infection called ringworm, and two had to have their tails removed through amputation. In captivity, a red panda can live up to 14 years. Illnesses have included Chagas disease in a zoo in Kansas and Amdoparvovirus at the Sacramento Zoo.

Threats

Red pandas are mainly threatened because their homes are being destroyed and broken into small pieces. More people, deforestation, and the illegal taking of non-wood forest material all cause this. Herders and livestock also disturb the forests. Livestock trample the bamboo that red pandas need. Clearcutting also makes it harder for some kinds of bamboo to grow back. In Nepal's Lamjung District, livestock graze during seasonal transhumance, forest fires are started by people, and bamboo is cut for cattle fodder in winter.

Poaching is also a serious threat. In Nepal, many red panda skins were confiscated. Traps set for other wildlife have also caught and killed red pandas. In southwestern China, red pandas are hunted for their fur, especially their bushy tails, which are used to make hats. The red panda population in China has dropped a lot over the last 50 years.

Conservation

The red panda is listed in CITES Appendix I. It is protected in all the countries where it lives, and hunting it is illegal. Since 2008, it has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. About 10,000 red pandas are thought to be left, and their numbers are falling. Much of their habitat is inside protected areas.

In Langtang National Park in Nepal, a red panda anti-poaching unit and community monitoring have been set up. Members of Community Forest User Groups protect red panda homes in other parts of Nepal. Several schools have used a red panda conservation manual as part of their curricula. Since 2010, community-based conservation programmes in 10 Nepali districts have helped villagers rely less on natural resources.

In Bhutan, 35 hectares (86 acres) of high-elevation rangeland in Merak, Bhutan was restored and fenced between 2016 and 2019. 120 herder families took part. In Arunachal Pradesh, villagers set up two community conservation areas. China has also run projects such as Grain for Green. The red panda is not a key species in this project, but it may benefit from the protection of the giant panda and the golden snub-nosed monkey.

Red pandas have lived in zoos for a long time. The London Zoo received two in 1869 and 1876. The first was caught in Darjeeling. The Calcutta Zoo received one in 1877. The Philadelphia Zoo received one in 1906. Artis and Cologne Zoos received them in 1908, the same year the first captive cubs were born in an Indian zoo. In 1940, the San Diego Zoo brought four red pandas from India that had been caught in Nepal. Their first litter was born in 1941. By 1969, about 250 red pandas had been shown in zoos. The Taronga Conservation Society started keeping them in 1977.

In 1978, a breed registry, the International Red Panda Studbook, was set up. The Red Panda European Endangered Species Programme followed in 1985. Zoo members agreed on a global master plan for captive breeding in 1993. By late 2015, 219 red pandas lived in 42 zoos in Japan. The Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park takes part in the Red Panda Species Survival Plan and kept about 25 red pandas by 2016. By the end of 2019, 407 red pandas were kept in 182 European zoos. Regional breeding programmes have also been set up in zoos in North America, Australasia and South Africa.

Cultural significance

People in some places have used the red panda in their culture and stories. A drawing of a red panda appears on a 13th-century Chinese scroll. In Nepal's Taplejung District, people use its claws to help treat epilepsy. Its skin is used in rituals to help sick people, and it is also used to make hats, scarecrows, and home decorations. In western Nepal, Magar shamans wear its skin and fur in their ritual clothing, believing it protects them from evil spirits. People in central Bhutan think red pandas are reincarnations of Buddhist monks. Some tribal people in northeast India and the Yi people believe that wearing red panda tails or hats made of its fur brings good luck. In China, the fur is used in local ceremonies. At weddings, the groom traditionally carries the hide, and newlyweds wear hats made of red panda tails as a "good-luck charm".

In the early 1990s, the red panda was named the state animal of Sikkim. It was also the mascot of the Darjeeling Tea Festival. It has appeared on stamps and coins from several countries where red pandas live. Anthropomorphic red pandas, which are animals given human traits, appear in animated movies and TV shows such as The White Snake Enchantress, The Jungle Book: The Adventures of Mowgli, Bamboo Bears, Barbie as the Island Princess, DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda series, Aggretsuko, and Disney/Pixar's Turning Red. They also appear in several video games and comic books. The red panda is the namesake of the Firefox browser, and it has also given its name to music bands and companies. Its look has been used on plush toys, t-shirts, postcards, and other items.