Zagreb Zoo

Names of our animals: Jorrit, Amelie, Bamboo, Coco

Classification
Class: mammals (Mammalia)
Order: carnivores (Carnivora)
Family: red pandas (Ailuridae)

Description
Body length: 51 - 73 cm, tail length: 28 - 49 cm, weight: 3 - 6 kg.

Geographic range
Himalayan mountains in Bhutan, India, Nepal, South-western China and northern Myanmar.

Habitat:
Deciduous temperate forests in the mountains, between 1500 and 4,800 meters in elevation, and tropical coniferous evergreen forests at lower altitudes, between 700 do 1400 meters in elevation. The forests that they inhabit are full of bamboo, shrubs and fallen trees. Red pandas use all those to easily climb to get to the bamboo leaves.

Diet
In the wild: bamboo leaves (80 - 90 %), roots, lichen, small vertebrates, bird eggs, insects and their larvae.
In captivity: bamboo leaves, panda cake, fruit (grapes, banana, apple, peach, etc.), ground meat, boiled carrots and potatoes, cooked rice and eggs.

Reproduction
Mating season lasts from early January to middle of March, during which red pandas mark their territory more often and the female calls the male to the ground where mating takes place. Both males and females have multiple partners. The cubs are born in summer (between June and July) after the gestation period of 114 – 145 days. The female gives birth most often to 2 cubs (sometimes 1, 3 or 4 of them) in a nest that has been prepared ahead of time in tree hollows, or rock crevices. Cubs weigh 110 - 130 grams at birth. Female spends 90% of time with hem for the first several days, and the young leave the nest for the first time after 90 days. Mother and cubs recognize each other through scent marks that are established shortly after birth. The cubs reach sexual maturity at around 18 - 20 months of age.

Behaviour
Red pandas live a solitary life and contact between individuals is rare, except during mating season, although they communicate through scent marking, vocalization and visual displays. According to recent research, it has been determined that red pandas are most active during the day, not at night as was previously thought. Their behaviour changes throughout the year based on temperature changes, feeding habits, and the presence of young. Each individual occupies a territory that is about a square kilometre in size. Territories of several pandas often overlap, regardless of gender, and they mark their territory with various scents from various glands (at their paw pads, anal glands etc.).

Predators
Snow Leopard.

Life span
In wild: up to 14 years.
In captivity: up to 30 years.

Conservation Status
Red pandas are a vulnerable species, threatened and endangered by loss and fragmentation of habitat as well as poaching. Habitat fragmentation creates smaller isolated populations, which leads to inbreeding within those populations and that additionally endanger the species. It is estimated that there is about 10 000 red pandas left in the wild.
IUCN category: VU (vulnerable species).

Interesting facts
► Red, or lesser, panda is mentioned in the 13th century in scriptures from Chou dynasty in China describing hunting scenes, and in Europe not until 1821. The name „Panda" was first used by Frédéric Cuvier in the book "Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères" in 1824, and it is assumed that the word was derived from the Nepalese name for this species - nigalya ponya (bamboo eater). 48 years after that, the Giant panda was discovered and was named after the red panda.
►The communication between neighbours is also through faeces that they leave in previously chosen places.

Links
Red Panda Network
ARKive - Red Panda images

Adopted by:
OŠ Cvjetno naselje, 2.a razred (2009/2010)
OŠ Cvjetno naselje, 7.b razred (2009/2010)
Petra Lederer
Fran Ciković
Miljenko Čehulić
Pia Nobilo Cetinski
Marko Stefanović
Lara Fritz
Maja Kubik
Lucija, Hana i Luna Ahčin
Gea Vlašić
Ivana Saucha
Sara, Luka i Lovro Banovec
Ivana Pečenković
Magda Mateš
OŠ Bedenica
Ivor Bašić
Mia i Fran Kovačić
Uma Gebbie
Karla Cerkvenik
OŠ Špansko Oranice, Eko skupina 2.d razreda (2010/2011)
Ivan Haubrih
Danijela Delić