Latin Name:
Ailurus fulgens
Status:
Endangered
Food:
In the wild their diet is mainly bamboo plus some berries, mushrooms, grasses and bark.
Population:
Believed to be as low as 2,500 in the wild.
Distribution:
Himalayan Mountains India, Nepal, Tibet
Interesting Fact:
They have a specialised wrist bone which acts like a thumb to hold food.
Red Panda
Red Pandas are members of the order ‘carnivora’, even though the vast majority of their diet is vegetable.
They belong to a family of their own, but are closely related to the bear and raccoon families.
The Red Panda has beautiful rusty red fur which it needs to keep warm in the cold mountainous areas where it lives. They are crepuscular, which means that they are especially active at dawn and dusk. Because of their low calorie diet they need to eat for a large part of each day. In the wild their diet is mainly bamboo plus some berries, mushrooms, grasses and bark. They have a specialised wrist bone which acts like a thumb to hold food.
They are a species with a European breeding programme, and it is the ‘Studbook Keeper’ who decides which animals should be paired together. Our first panda was Pandora, a wonderful female who produced a single cub, then triplets! These are very rare but happily the two boys and a girl all thrived.
In 2012 we collected a young female from Copenhagen Zoo. She was chosen to join Lang Za, who was bred at Port Lympne Zoo. The female was Jai-Li, meaning ‘strong and beautiful’. She had twin boys in 2013 and twin girls in June 2014 and one cub ‘Koda’ in 2015. Most of the youngsters moved on to other collections to create new breeding pairs, although young Scarlet remained at Paradise Park.
They were joined by Suri from Port Lympne Reserve. Suri also became a wonderful companion to Jai-Li and lived to be over 10 years old and passed away in 2025. Jai-Li is still going strong and we hope to have a new breeding pair of Red Pandas in the summer of 2026.
Recent data suggests that Red Panda population numbers may be as low as 2,500, due to continuous loss of habitat and wildlife trading. The existing population is expected to experience additional declines of 10% every 10 years.
We support wild populations via two projects through our very popular RED PANDA EXPERIENCES. Find out more here. The Red Panda Network is committed to the conservation of wild red pandas and their habitat through the education and empowerment of local communities.
NEWS STORIES
Remembering Suri: A Cherished Red Panda
Koda sets off on a wonderful new adventure
Bamboo take-away for the Red Pandas
Heavy snow at Paradise Park in Cornwall – some nice photos
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