Animal Quick Facts
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Size
22 to 24.6 inches long, with a tail of 14.6 to 18.6 inches. 8.8 to 13.3 pounds in weight.
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Diet
Mainly bamboo leaves, grass, and fruit. Occasionally eggs, insects, small animals, berries, acorns, and roots.
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Color
Reddish-brown, black, and white.
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Lifespan
10 years (median life expectancy of males and females combined)
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Range
Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Southern China.
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Habitat
Temperate forests with an understory of bamboo.
Ailurus fulgens
Location in the Zoo: Forest Passage
Red pandas love to eat bamboo, but because of their inability to digest it completely, they must eat large quantities of it.
Red Pandas are normally solitary creatures but come together in pairs in the breeding season. The females use sticks and leaves to build nests in hollow trees. After a gestation of about 134 days, females can deliver between one to four cubs but usually litters are two cubs.
Cubs are born blind and weigh 4 to 5 ounces. Mothers are the sole care providers until the cubs are old enough to care for themselves at about 6 to 8 months of age. Red panda cubs are born with grey fur and only weigh up to five ounces.
Red pandas are extremely endangered with less than 2,500 left in the wild due to habitat loss and poaching for their beautiful coats.