International Red Panda Day is celebrated annually on the third Saturday of September to raise awareness for the Red Panda and its difficult situation. World Red Panda Day 2020 falls on September 19.
International Red Panda Day (IRPD) was first celebrated in 2010 by the Red Panda Network, to instruct the public and raise awareness of these lovable, elusive little animals, the difficult times they are right now confronting, and how we as a community can support them.
Funds raised by IRPD will uphold the Red Panda Network’s biggest and most comprehensive effort to end the illicit Red Panda trade, once and for all.
35 Interesting Facts about Red Panda
- Principally a herbivore, the name panda is said to originate from the Nepali word ‘ponya,’ which implies bamboo or plant-eating mammal.
- The red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is a mammal species native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China.
- Red Pandas are otherwise called the lesser panda, the red cat-bear, the red bear-cat, and even the Firefox!
- The Red Panda, otherwise called the Lesser Panda is found in temperate forests in the eastern Himalayas and southern China.
- It is somewhat bigger than a domestic cat. It is arboreal, territorial, and single aside from during the mating season.
- They are lone animals and live alone for the greater part of their lives.
- They ordinarily develop to be no greater than a house cat, however, their huge bushy tails can add more than 15 inches to their length – and doubles up as a comfortable blanket in chilly weather!
- There are under 2,000 giant pandas left in the wild, in addition to another 300 in captivity.
- The red panda has been previously characterized in the families Procyonidae (raccoons) and Ursidae (bears), however recent research has set it in its own family Ailuridae, in superfamily Musteloidea alongside Mustelidae and Procyonidae.
- They are in reality more closely identified with the Raccoon than they are to the Giant Panda.
- The giant panda is closely identified with bears; the red panda is nearer to the raccoon.
- Pandas go through as long as 14 hours daily eating; 99 percent of their diet comprises of bamboo shoots.
- The scientific name of the giant panda is Ailuropoda melanoleuca, which signifies “cat-footed black-and-white”.
- Each front limb of a giant panda has five fingers and a pseudo thumb which is an extended wrist bone that it uses to grasp bamboo.
- Other than the five toes on the forefoot, a red panda additionally has a “pseudo-thumb” on it which can be used as the sixth toe to grasp things. The soles of a red panda are covered with hair, which keeps it from falling when climbing trees.
- A red panda has a body length of about 60cm and a fluffy and powerful tail of about 50cm. While sleeping, a red panda folds itself tightly into a ball and puts the tail around its neck to ensure against coldness. The tail additionally encourages it to keep balance while climbing.
- In the wild, red pandas are good neighbors with giant pandas, and they share resources, for example, food and habitat. At present, there are under 3,000 red pandas and 1,864 giant pandas in the wild, which are minuscule numbers.
- Female pandas are fertile for just two or three days every year.
- This creature lives essentially on bamboo yet also eats eggs, birds, little mammals, and insects. They are active from sunset to dawn.
- Pandas in zoos have twins essentially more frequently than pandas in nature.
- In November 2016, twin baby pandas at Vienna zoo were baptized Fu Feng (Happy Phoenix) and Fu Ban (Happy Companion).
- The collective noun for a group of pandas is “an embarrassment of pandas”.
- Red pandas depend on their long, thick tails for balance as they cross tree limbs. They additionally fold it over themselves for warmth throughout the winter months.
- Red pandas are slippery and seldom observed mammals found in the mountain forests of Nepal, India, Bhutan, China, and Myanmar (Burma).
- Red pandas are generally active in the early morning and late afternoon (crepuscular) going through the vast majority of the day resting in trees (arboreal) conserving their energy. Red pandas are ordinarily single animals yet met up in pairs in the breeding season.
- Red pandas have endured an expected 40% decrease in numbers throughout the most recent 50 years, with habitat loss, trapping, and poaching all to a fault. IRPD assists with raise awareness of this, and the red pandas’ delightful nature unquestionably assists with spread the word.
- For decades, Zoos all around the globe have been caring for Red Pandas and preserving their heritage. Nonetheless, in the wild, Red Pandas stay in high elevation forest habitats, for example, the Eastern Himalayas, Southwestern China, and Northern Myanmar.
- The life expectancy of a Red Panda is in normal ten years. Roughly eight years when in wildlife and as long as fourteen years when being taken care of in a setup conservation facility, for example, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.
- Red Pandas perceive each other by using their sense of smell. Envision noting the door and determining who the individual was by giving them a speedy sniff.
- Albeit named a carnivore, red pandas fundamentally eat bamboo leaves, and they eat a lot of it! This is because red pandas can digest just around 24 percent of the bamboo they eat. They likewise eat grass and fruit and occasionally an egg, insect, or little creature.
- Red Pandas red and black color camouflages them from their predators. The red on their backs is the very same color as moss found on the trees where they live.
- Red pandas often communicate when they feel incited or compromised. They use body language —, for example, head bobbing, tail arching, and remaining on their hind legs — and a variety of loud noises including the “huff-quack” and a warning whistle.
- At the point when it gets truly cold red pandas to go into what is designated “torpor.” They fold their tail over themselves and go into a deep sleep, lessening their metabolic demands and bringing down both their core temperature and respiration rate.
- WWF monitors red pandas and their habitat across India, Nepal, and Bhutan to all the more likely comprehend the species. We additionally work with yak herders and other community groups in Nepal to decrease the human effect on the red panda’s delicate natural habitat.
- Red pandas are one of the few animals on the planet that can climb straight down a tree, head-first.
