What is a Red Panda?

Red Pandas

Yes, they are certainly cute! But what exactly is a red panda? Although they are oftentimes mistakenly thought to be part of the fox family or giant pandas with whom they share some of their Chinese bamboo forest habitat, red pandas are in a family of their own; the closest relatives are raccoons and the mustelidae family.

Red pandas live in high Himalayan mountain forests in a narrow band ranging from Nepal through India, Bhutan, Burma, and China, and are threatened with extinction due to deforestation, poaching, and genetic isolation.

Did you know that the red panda is also known as the firefox? The logo of Mozilla’s ubiquitous web browser, Firefox , is red panda wrapped around the earth.

For more information on the red panda, please visit Wikipedia and the Red Panda Network.


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