Red pandas are mostly herbivorous mammals of the order Carnivora, which are endemic to the Eastern Himalayas, between the heights of 2200 to 4500 meters, above sea level. They are evolutionary unique species as 83% of their diet consists of bamboo leaves and shoots, even though they evolved in from carnivore ancestors. Despite the name, they are not related to the Greater Panda of China but they did independently evolve similar features.
Ailurus funges
Ailurus styani
Red pandas live in broadleaf and coniferous or deciduous forests with high bamboo cover, high canopy cover and high bamboos.
Red panda is a solitary, crepuscular (active during early morning and late afternoon) and arboreal (mostly living in trees) animal. Being solitary, they only interact with each other in the breeding season. Female red pandas start having cubs as early 18 months old. They usually have one or two cubs, but sometimes up to four. Cubs stay with their mothers until they are one year old. They fully mature when they are two to three years old and have an average life span of eight to ten years.
It is important to conserve red pandas as they are an indicator species, this means that healthy population of red pandas are indicate the healthy ecosystem of the whole Himalayan region. It has also been a prime research interest for biologists due to its unique evolutionary characteristics, as well at it being the only extant member of the family Ailuridae.
Despite its ecological importance, red pandas have been facing various threats due to habitat degradation and fragmentation, poaching, illegal trade, attacks by stray dogs, tourism activities, grazing, harvesting of bamboo and forest products, and construction work. Its world population is 10,000 and the population in Nepal is between 300 to 500. Due to its decreasing population, red panda has been on the IUCN Red List (list of threatened species) as endangered species since 2015. It is also included in the Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
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