By Ben Rodgers
Editor
SUAMICO – This month’s Animals of the Month have switched scientific classifications more than once, but are now in a group all their own.
The red panda was first described as a member of the raccoon family. Later, due to DNA similarities, they were grouped with bears. They have been called the fire fox, fire cat, red cat, fox bear, bright panda, and Himalayan raccoon.
Now, scientifically speaking, they belong to the Ailuridae family and are they only living species in that family.
“They’re very cute,” said Jessica Hutjens, senior zookeeper at the NEW Zoo. “They’re super fuzzy and cute.”
The NEW Zoo is home to four red pandas and each looks like a mix of a fox and racoon, with maybe some cat- or dog-like qualities thrown in.
Addison, Khairo, Qiji and Chiya all call the NEW Zoo home.
“People like them, even though they sleep a lot,” Hutjens said. “They’re crepuscular, which means they are more active in the morning or evening, but people like them.”
Unlike the giant panda, red pandas tend to be picky eaters, with 85-95 percent of their diet consisting of bamboo in the wild, and only the most choice leaves.
At the NEW Zoo they get plenty of bamboo leaves. Apples, grapes and berries make up for the lack of nutritional value in bamboo leaves.
“They are still considered to be a carnivore because they have some canine teeth, but the rest of their teeth are specialized for bamboo,” Hutjens said.
They have some other adaptive traits as well, such as wrist bones that rotate, allowing them to hold bamboo while they eat and climb vertically, thick insulating fur to keep warm, and fur covered paws for moving around in the snow.
Red pandas also have the ability to lower their metabolic rate to that of a sloth in significantly cold temperatures, only waking to eat food.
Even still, they call mountainous regions in Asia their primary habitat, Nepal, India, Myanmar and parts of China still are home to this endangered species in the wild.
“In the wild they are pretty solitary,” Hutjens said. “They only come together for the breeding season. In captivity, you can get away with having breeding pairs together. It works out well.”
As luck would have it, Qiji and Chiya have been selected for the Species Survival Program by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
“They have a breeding recommendation and we’re hopeful for babies and they’re talking about it, but they’re not always successful,” Hutjens said. “We’re hopeful they’ll come up with a baby or two, but nothing is guaranteed.”
Currently Qiji and Chiya share a habitat and Addison is away from her normal roommate, Khairo, as the two do not have a breeding recommendation. But they will move back in together after April.
With less than 2,500 red pandas left in the wild and only 357 at 95 zoos in captivity, Hutjens said it’s important for them to get down to business.
Plus, she said red pandas make cute babies.
“They are actually born white and they slowly turn into little red balls of fluff,” she said.
As an AZA Zoo, the NEW Zoo supports many programs that help endangered animals in the wild.
In the case of the red panda, Hutjens said the zoo supports the Red Panda Network.
The Red Panda Network encourages people on the ground in Nepal to become rangers, keep an eye on the species and be on the lookout for poachers.
Visiting the red pandas at the NEW Zoo is one way people can support the Red Panda Network.