Red Pandas or shining cats as they are called in local folklore are diminutive arboreal mammals and are the only species belonging to the genus of Ailurus. A little larger than domestic cats, they have a reddish-brown coat of fur, a long and shaggy tail, and have a waddle gait due to their short front legs. They mainly eat bamboo, but are omnivorous and also eat eggs, insects, birds and small mammals sometimes. Red Pandas are solitary animals, and are active mainly from dusk to dawn, while being mostly sedentary during day.
Widespread in temperate forest regions of the Himalayas, the habitat of the endangered Red Panda ranges from Nepal to eastern China. They are also found in parts of northern India, Myanmar, and Bhutan. Exact population figures of these mammals living in the wild are quite difficult to establish, with rough estimates ranging anywhere from less than 3,000 to somewhere between 17,000 and 21,000. Though it is protected under law in all the countries where it is in existence, its numbers have continued to dwindle mostly due to loss of habitat, fragmentation, inbreeding depression, and poaching.
Some Red Panda facts are that its length is about 55 to 62 centimeters, and its tail is about 36 to 46 centimeters long. The males weigh around 3.6 to 6.1 kg and females weigh around 4.1 to 6.1 kg. They have soft, long reddish-brown fur on their upper parts, black fur on their lower part, and have a light face with distinct tear markings along with robust cranial dental characteristics. Its round head has medium sized erect ears, a nose which is black in color, and dark eyes that are almost pitch black. Their long bushy tails have six alternating yellow red oblique rings that provide them with excellent camouflage in the habitat of moss and lichen covered trees. Their legs are short and black with a thick fur coat on soles of their paws. The fur serves as a thermal insulation for them on snow covered or ice covered surfaces.
Adult as well as baby Red Pandas eat mostly bamboo like the Giant Pandas, as their stomachs lack the ability to digest cellulose, hence they must consume large volumes of bamboo in order to survive. Their diet comprises of about two thirds of bamboo, but they also eat wild berries, fruits, roots, acorn, lichen, and grass. Additionally they supplement their diet with birds, eggs, fish, rodents, and insects. During captivity they readily eat meat too. Some red panda predators are the snow leopard and the Asiatic snow wolf.