Where does the red panda live?
The red panda lives in the eastern Himalayas and south-western China. It inhabits coniferous forests, temperate broadleaf forests and mixed forests, and favours steep slopes with dense bamboo cover close to water. Its reddish fur, with a black belly and legs, serves as camouflage in trees covered with red moss and white lichen.
What does the red panda eat?
It feeds mainly on bamboo shoots and leaves, but also on fruits and blossoms. It is solitary and largely arboreal, thanks to its flexible joints and curved, semi-retractile claws. It is not closely related to the giant panda, which is a bear: its lineage, the Ailuridae, goes back 25 to 18 million years. Both pandas do, however, have a "false thumb" made from an elongated wrist bone.
Is the red panda endangered?
Yes: the IUCN lists it as Endangered. Today the name red panda refers only to the Himalayan lineage, since Styan's red panda in China was recognised as a separate species in the early 2020s.
All 71 threatened animals ›
