Red Panda!The red panda also called 'fire cat' is a mostly herbivourous mammal, specialized as a bamboo feeder. Its slightly larger than a domestic cat and looks like a racoon. There are two sub-species of the Red panda. One of the sub-species lives in Southern Tibet ,as far east as the Brahmaputra River ,in China and the other sub-species, which is slightly larger, lives in southern china.
Discription:
The red panda is quite long; 79-120cm.
The male weighs 4.5-6.2kg and the female wieghs 3-4.5kg.
its coat has soft reddish-brown fur on upper parts, blackish fur on lower parts with a light face and tear markings near their eyes. The red and white coloration provides excellent camouflage among the red and white lichens which grow in their natural habitat. The fur provides warmth in the winter and their long bushy tails help them keep their balance in the trees.
Behaviour:
Red pandas are more active during night than during the in the day. They tend to rest in tall trees and increase their activity in the late afternoon.
They are very heat sensitive with a well being temperature of 17-25 degrees.
They are very heat sensitive with a well being temperature of 17-25 degrees.
they are exellent tree climbers and spend most of their time(up to 13 hours a day) searching for bamboo. The rest of the day their time is spent sleeping on branches or in hollow trees.
Habitat:
Red pandas prefer temperate bamboo forests, in an altitude range of 1500-4000m.
The dense bamboo forests that they prefer are severly under threat due to loggings.The Red Panda is found in the Himalays in Bhutan, Southern China, India and Napul.They live in a mixed deciduous and coniferous forest.Red pandas are native to southern Asia, along a cresent formed by the himalaya mountian.Red pandas inhabit climates of moderate temperature and can’t cope with temperatures over 25°c. They prefer forested mountians that have course bamboo.The Red panda shares its habitat with the giant panda.
Population:
The Red Panda is a rare animal because of its nature and difficult terrain it lives in. There are only about 2,500 red pandas left in the wild.Thier habitat is currently under threat due to loggings. In this graph on below it shows how the red pandas population has declined year by year.Recently, logging and other forms of forest degradation have upset this balance and even more Red Pandas have become endangered.The Red Panda is an endangered species and with out doing something soon it is going to become extinct. It is nearly extinct to the western part of its range, due to human interference to the Red Panda’s natural habitat.
preditors:
Snow leopards are the main predators of adults and yellow-necked martens often take cubs in the nest.However,they are usually safe when perched up in the smaller branches of a tree.
Diet:
Red Pandas primarily eat bamboo, usually bamboo leaves and young bamboo shoots in spring.They are mostly vegetarian and eat,roots, fruit, acorns, berries, lichen, and grasses. They also eat insects, bird eggs, young birds and small rodents. Because the red panda has the digestive system of a carnivore it cannot digest wood fiber. It therefore has to eat large amounts of bamboo every day in order to survive( approximately 200,000 bamboo leaves during the day). Red pandas need to consume about 30% of their body weight daily.
Breeding:
The mating season is from January to March. During this time each female comes into estrus for 14 days. Males will fight over the right to mate with females. When they meet they arch their backs and lower their heads, then stand up on their hind legs and beat each other with their paws. A liter of usually one - four cubs is born in nests in tree hollows or rock cleft with grass, this is made by thier mothers just before giving birth.
Why did the panda's become endangered?
The Red Pandas have been declining since before the population boom in 1949 and have been the focus of conservation as far back as 1958 within china, although all conservation work with the pandas was stopped during the Cultural
Revolution.There was a great loss of habitat because of expanding settlements and farming. The number of Red Pandas are also declining because of huntingseg: for their skins, for food, for sport and for Zoo's.The fragmentation of thier habitat is due to human population eg; more land for houses and buildings, also deforestation for agricultural reasons eg; fire wood and loggings for timber.
CONSERVATION STATUS:
The read pandas are considered endangered in China and protected in Nepal. The main threat to this species survival is habitat destruction. The red panda is also effected by the competition of local livestock.Some illegal hunting, and more importantly habitat loss and habitat fragmentation, have contributed to their endangered status.To stop the Red Panda becoming extint we can preserve their habitat through the empowerment of local communities by adaptive community-based:
1. Research
2.Education
3. Sustainable Development
We can prevent logging in their habitat by asking local villagers to monitor their community forests and educate their community forest users about red pandas and ask them what we need to do in order to preserve their forests.
Interesting facts about the red panda:
Did you know..............
- The word panda comes from the Nepalese term "nigalya ponya" which means "bamboo eater."
- During mating season red pandas become somewhat social, but this does not last for long. Once they have mated they return to living alone.
- Red pandas are one of the world's most endangered species.
- Red pandas are arboreal creatures, living mostly in the trees.
Bibliography
By Georgia Philpott
2 comments:
hi georgia(:
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i brought money too.
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