W.E.S. - Red Panda

<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" ALINK="#FF0000" VLINK="#FF0000" TOPMARGIN="10" BOTTOMMARGIN="10" LEFTMARGIN="10" RIGHTMARGIN="10"><script type="text/javascript" src="/banner/banner.js"></script></script><script>tql_drawTop();</script> <IMG SRC="../../media/mammals/red_panda.jpg" ALT="Red Panda " WIDTH="230" HEIGHT="184" BORDER="0" ALIGN="left" HSPACE="8"> <FONT FACE="verdana,arial,helvetica" SIZE="6"><B>Red Panda</B></FONT> <BR> <FONT FACE="verdana,arial,helvetica" SIZE="2"><I>Ailurus fulgens</I></FONT> <FONT FACE="verdana,arial,helvetica" SIZE="3"> <P ALIGN="justify"> Red Pandas live in the remote high-altitude bamboo forests of the Himalayas to southern China. They like to climb onto trees for rests. Red Pandas usually lay on forks of branches. When the weather is cold they cure up to keep warm. An advantage of resting that high is that they are safe from enemies like the leopard and the bear. <P ALIGN="justify"> Their body is covered with red-brownish fur. The face has patches of white. Without the tail they can grow to as big as 16 - 24 inches (40.6 - 70cm). They weigh around 7 - 11 pounds (3.2 - 4.9kg). <P ALIGN="justify"> They are <A HREF="../glossary.html#crepuscular" TARGET="eslist">crepuscular</A> and <A HREF="../glossary.html#nocturnal" TARGET="eslist">nocturnal</A>. This means that Red Pandas are most active during twilight and daybreak hours, and the night. They are active between the hours of 10:30 - 11:30 p.m., 12:30 - 1:30 a.m., and 2:30 - 3:30 a.m. During daytime they carry on their activities between 5:30 - 7:30 a.m., 2 - 4 p.m., and 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. They are awake for 10 - 14 hours every day. Their rests in the morning can be 15 minutes or up to 5 hours long. <P ALIGN="justify"> Red Pandas are considered mainly as folivore. Their primary food is bamboo leaves. They also eat fruits, roots, acorns, and lichens. <P ALIGN="justify"> When days start to lengthen again during winter, it stimulates males' sexual activity. The males and the females stay together during this time. They would go and do everything together. The female would get impregnated during early to mid January. The <A HREF="../glossary.html#gestation" TARGET="eslist">gestation</A> period takes about 90 - 140 days. When summer comes, the females are ready to give birth. An average number of offspring is 2. It is rare to have 3 or 4 cubs with one pregnancy. <P ALIGN="justify"> Red Pandas are <A HREF="../glossary.html#endangered" TARGET="eslist">endangered</A> because the human <A HREF="../glossary.html#population" TARGET="eslist">population</A> is over taking their land. Bamboo forests are cut down to accommodate the ever-growing human population. The pandas can't adjust to the changing environment and begin to die. The Chinese government has set a quota for the number of children a family can have. This, hopefully, would control the rapid population growth. </FONT> <BR><BR> <IMG SRC="../../media/maps/red_panda.gif" ALT="Map of Where Red Pandas Are Located" WIDTH="320" HEIGHT="183" HSPACE="6" VSPACE="2" BORDER="0" ALIGN="right"> <P ALIGN="justify"> <FONT FACE="verdana,arial,helvetica" SIZE="2"> <U>Bibliography</U> </FONT> <UL TYPE="square"> <FONT FACE="verdana,arial,helvetica" SIZE="1"> <LI>MacClintock, Dorcas. <U>Red Panda - A Natural History.</U> New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.</LI> <LI>Maynard, Thane. <U>Saving Endangered Mammals.</U> New York: A Cincinnati Zoo Book, 1992.</LI> </FONT> </UL> <BR> <FONT FACE="verdana,arial,helvetica" SIZE="1"> [<A HREF="../esframe.html#es" TARGET="_top">Endangered Species List</A>] [ <A HREF="../slide/rpanda_slide.html" TARGET="_top">Back to slide show</A> ] <BR><BR> <HR WIDHT="75%" SIZE="2"> &#169 1998 Team 19689 - World Endangered Species <BR> <ADDRESS>../19689/data/mammals/red_panda_frame.html</ADDRESS></FONT> <script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-174705-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(ga); })(); </script></BODY>