Red Pandas

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~Red Pandas 2~

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Panda

http://www.1stoppostershop.com/products/Impact/Wildlife/im_RedPanda.jpg

Identification: Red Panda "shining cat"

Color: Orange, red , and black

Weight: Male: 4.5 to 6.2 kg Female: 3 to 4.5 kg

Height: 79-120 cm, or 31 to 47 in.

Class: Mammals

Physical Characteristics- Another type of fact for a red pandas tail length is 30 to 60 cm/or 12 to 24 in. These red pandas are mostly commonly bamboo feeders. The light face of a red panda has a face of a badger similar to a raccoon. With long and soft reddish-brown fur on upper parts, blackish furs on lower parts, light face with tear markings and robust cranial-dental features. Its long bushy tail with six alternating yellowish red transverse ocher rings provides balance and excellent camouflage against its habitat of moss- and lichen-covered trees. Red panda are specialized with strong curved and sharp semi-retractile claws standing inward for grasping of narrow tree branches, leaves and fruit. Red Pandas sounds like Giant Pandas but they have nothing in common besides there wrist because they are both bamboo feeders.

Behaviors- Red Pandas are crepuscular which means most active during dawn and dusk. They are sedentary during the day resting in the branches of trees and in tree hollows and increase their activity only in the late afternoon and/or early evening hours. They are very heat sensitive with an optimal “well-being” temperature between 17 and 25°C, and cannot survive temperatures over 25 °C at all. As a result, Red Pandas sleep during the hot noontime in the shady crowns of treetops, often lying stretched out on forked branches or rolled up in tree caves with their tail covering their face. They live in territories, frequently alone, and only rarely live in pairs except when mating season but part when the time is right. They are very quiet except for some twittering and whistling communication sounds.

They search for food at night, running along the ground or through the trees with speed and agility and, after finding food, use their front paws to place the food into their mouths. Red pandas drink by plunging their paw into the water and licking their paws. Predators of Red Pandas are snow leopards,martens and humans. The species has also faced a great deal of human-induced habitat destruction.
Red Pandas begin their daily activity by washing their fur by licking their front paws and massaging their back, stomach and sides. They also scrub their back and belly along the sides of trees or a rock. Then they patrol their territory, marking it with a weak scent of scent waste from what they have eaten before.Its the only way to keep other critters away from there home. If a Red Panda feels threatened or senses danger, it will often try to scamper up into an inaccessible rock column or a tree.If they can no longer flee, they stand up on their hind legs, which makes them appear somewhat more daunting and allows them the possibility of using the razor-sharp claws on their front paws, which can inflict substantial wounds. Red Pandas are friendly, but are not helpless, and will resist if they feel threatened.

Resting during the day zZzZzZzZz

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Tiergarten_Schoenbrunn_Kleiner_Panda_2.jpg

Daily Diet-The Red Panda eats mostly bamboo. Like the Giant Panda, it cannot digest cellulose, so it must consume a large quantity of bamboo to survive. Its diet consists of about two-thirds bamboo, besides bamboo they can also eat berries, fruit, mushrooms, roots, acorns, lichen, grasses, and they are known to supplement their diet with young birds, fish, eggs, small rodents, and insects on occasion. In captivity they will readily eat meat. Red Pandas are excellent climbers and forage largely in trees. The Red Panda does little more than eat and sleep due to its low-calorie diet.

Bamboo shoots are more easily digested than leaves and exhibited the best time in the summer and autumn, medium in the spring, and low in the winter.These variations correlate with the nutrient contents in the bamboo.
The Red Panda poorly processes bamboo, especially the cellulose and cell wall components. This implies that microbial digestion plays only a minor role in its digestive strategy. The digestion of the bamboo through the red pandas stomach is very rapid (~2–4 hours).
In order to survive on this poor-quality diet, the Red Panda has to select high-quality sections of the bamboo plant such as the tender leaves and shoots in large quantities (over 1.5 kg {3 lbs} of fresh leaves and 4 kg {9 lbs} of fresh shoots daily) that pass through the digestive tract fairly rapidly so as to maximize nutrient intake.

Bamboo are red pandas daily food source

http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-16993841.jpg?size=572&uid=%7B123254A9-3F03-4D8D-BD72-524F35004237%7D

- Red Pandas are on the endangered species list. No reliable numbers exist for the total population but it is very threatened due to the fragmentation of its natural habitats, their small numbers, and their food specialization needs. In southwest China the Red Panda is hunted for its fur and especially for its highly-valued bushy tail from which hats are produced. In the areas of China, where the Red Panda lives, their fur is often used for local cultural ceremonies and in weddings the bridegroom traditionally carries the hide. The 'good-luck charm' hats are used by Chinese newlyweds.

This, and the continuous clearing of the forests has significantly reduced the population. It is now protected in all countries in which it lives, and the hunting of Red Pandas is illegal everywhere now.
But no matter what the hunting continues and they are often illegally hunted and sold to zoos for dumping prices. But the number of the red pandas are slowly developing back again.It is now very difficult to estimate the total population of all the red pandas, yet one can assume that they cannot bear much more of a habitat change and that they are in danger of extinction due to the disappearance of the forests and hunters hunting for their highly-valued tails and fur.
A 40% decrease in Red Panda populations was reported in China over the last 50 years, and those in western/Himalayan areas are considered to be in the worse shape out of all the others. Red Pandas have a naturally low birth rate (usually single or twin births per year) and a high death rate in the wild.
The Red Panda is endangered due to habitat loss caused by deforestation, grazing, and farming. These are some problems that has an effect on the other animals that are on the extiction list, too.