This is a Red Panda! Red Pandas
look a lot like their relative the Raccoon. They have thick redish brown fur,
a bushy striped tail, and a masked face. They get to be about 2 feet long
and weigh around 13 lbs.
Red Pandas live in forests in Nepal and China and are more common than the
Giant Panda. The Red Panda's favorite place to hang out is high up in the
trees. They spend most of the day lounging in the branches. Their rusty colored
fur helps them blend into the branches and their long, sharp claws help them
to hang on to the tree bark and jump from branch to branch. At night, when
they get hungry, Red Pandas go down to the ground to eat bamboo. If there
isn't any good bamboo around they will also eat eggs, flowers, berries, nuts,
and small animals such as reptiles. The Red Panda will eat in any position,
even hanging in a tree or lying on its back!
Red Pandas are smart, cute animals and used to be sold as pets. However, they
are a protected species now because their population has been decreased by
deforestation (cutting down of forests).
Here are some cool facts about Red Pandas:
