What are the characteristics of red pandas?

The red panda is also called the kitten bear. The only species of the genus Ailuropoda in the family Ailuropoda. Commonly known as the nine-section wolf, golden dog and red panda. The little panda looks very lovable and naturally dresses up like an animal image in a cartoon. In Sichuan, people affectionately call it "mountain boring" or "mountain bike baby" according to some special habits, while in Yunnan, people call it "golden dog" according to its size and beautiful coat color. It looks like a bear and a domestic cat, but it is much smaller than a bear and bigger than a domestic cat, so it is named Little Panda.

The red panda is obese, with a body length of 40-60 cm and a weight of about 6 kg. Its whole body is reddish brown, its limbs are brown and black, its hair is long and fluffy, its face is round with white stripes, its kiss, ears and cheeks are white, its face has white spots and its eyes are bright. The tail is stout, more than half of the body length, with 9 brownish black and brownish yellow rings, which is quite remarkable. Therefore, Sichuan Province in China is called the Nine Wolves. The red panda has short limbs, reddish-brown back, and white eyes, cheeks and even mouth and beard. The most beautiful is a long furry tail, and its brown and white nine-section ring pattern is very popular, so it has the nickname "Nine-section Wolf".

Red pandas mainly live in alpine jungles such as mixed forests and bamboo forests at an altitude of 1600 ~ 3800 meters, and live in dead tree caves or caves near streams and mountain springs at night. Love to form a small group of 4-5 people. Red pandas like drinking water and often move around the stream. When drinking water, he licked it gently with his tongue, as if he were tasting the taste of sweet spring carefully, but he was very temperate. Because it has thick fluff under its feet, it is very suitable for walking on wet ground or rocks under dense forests. When walking, its front feet bend inward, similar to the posture of a bear walking. At ordinary times, he is gentle and rarely makes a sound, but when he is angry, he hisses like a cat meow, spits, and when he is angry, he makes a short and low purr. Red pandas are very sensitive and good at climbing trees. It spends most of the day resting and sleeping in a tree covered with red-brown moss. When the weather is fine, it also likes to lie on the rocks and bask in the sun, which makes it very leisurely, so the locals call it "Shanmen Squat". When resting, the chest and abdomen are generally close to the branches, and the four legs naturally droop. From time to time, I scrub my white face with my front paws or lick my fine hair with my tongue. When I sleep, I cover my head with my hairy tail or use it as a pillow. Sometimes my feet hang high on the branches.

The common posture of red pandas is to sit down and hold the food with their forepaws. The main food is the leaves and bamboo shoots of Fargesia macrophylla and Fargesia macrophylla, accounting for more than 90% of the total food. Occasionally, I also eat the roots, stems, buds, tender leaves and wild fruits of other plants. I also eat insects, eggs, birds, small animals and honey, and I especially like sweets. Foraging activities are mostly in the early morning and evening. After the climax of these two foraging activities, a long rest of about 4 hours is needed. In addition, in foraging activities, we often have a short rest, and each rest time is often less than 2 hours. This ensures that there is enough energy to carefully select bamboo leaves and solve the defects of low nutrition and limited digestive ability of food.

For carnivores, bamboo is a kind of food with low nutritional value because it contains a lot of indigestible cellulose and lignin. Therefore, the red panda's strategy is to eat bamboo shoots in spring and summer and a small amount of wild fruits in autumn, because there are more cell components such as digestible crude protein, hemicellulose and soluble carbohydrates in bamboo leaves, while the cellulose and lignin contents in indigestible plants are lower than those in dried bamboo and bamboo branches. Although bamboo shoots are tender in tissue, the content of indigestible components is low, but the water content is too high, and the protein contained in them is unstable. Therefore, among all parts of bamboo, bamboo leaves should be the one with the highest nutritional value. When looking for food, it often uses fallen trees as a passage, just like building a shelf to make up for its short stature, so as to eat bamboo leaves on tall branches. This method of eating less and chewing slowly can promote the maximum absorption of nutrients and greatly improve the utilization rate of resources.

Modern red pandas are distributed in Tibet, Yunnan and Sichuan in China. It is also found in India, Nepal, Bhutan and northern Myanmar. Living in alpine forests or bamboo forests at an altitude of 2000 ~ 3000 meters.

Live in tree holes or caves, and go out for food in the morning and evening. Omnivorous, eating bamboo shoots, wild fruits, tender branches and leaves, or catching birds, rats, insects and eggs for food. I often climb on the branches and sometimes lie on the branches to rest. I like to be active in the valley area in summer; Squat on the edge of a cliff or at the top of a tree in winter to bask in the sun. There are secretory glands between the anus and the toes of the forelimbs, which give off a strong smell during breeding. Estrous mating between March and April. Often make courtship calls. Pregnancy is 3 ~ 5 months, and each fetus gives birth to 2 ~ 3 babies. There are no marks on the face and tail of the newborn baby. Pandas and pandas like to eat bamboo and mice. Good at climbing; Like most other carnivores, they have anal glands, and they often smear secretions on the protrusions in the field to mark the field. The cry is usually a continuous short whistle or a sharp sound; When provoked, it will stand on its hind legs and make a sharp sound.

Red pandas not only have the same body shape and tooth structure as raccoons, but also have similar omnivorous and cleaning habits. Mild temperament, easy to raise, is a unique animal in East Asia. It is exhibited in most zoos in China, with a life span of 10 year.

Sichuan Province is the concentrated distribution area of red pandas in China. Due to the expansion of the radius of human activities, many areas have been developed into farmland or wasteland, and forest resources have fallen sharply due to long-term over-exploitation of forests. It is still widely distributed in the southeast foot of Minshan Mountain in modern times, but the number of red pandas has been greatly reduced due to the destruction of habitats by road construction and further reclamation of agriculture. Qionglai mountain system is in an endangered state because of the expanding radius of human activities and frequent hunting; Although there are still a certain number in the southern distribution areas such as Xiangling and Liangshan, due to frequent poaching and trafficking, a large number of temporary transportation provided by villagers has a high mortality rate and serious resource destruction. As a traditional fur-bearing animal, until the 1980s, fur shops sold a large number of red panda furs, which were even called "golden monkey" furs. At the same time, catching red pandas in the wild is also very impressive. Since 1953, more than 2,000 animals have been captured in the wild, of which 100 has been transported abroad as an international zoo exchange. In addition, it is reported that with the development of border trade, red pandas from neighboring countries also flow into China from time to time. It can be seen that the use of trade for profit has posed a serious threat to wild populations.

Red pandas are mainly distributed in China and have been listed as 1 national key protected animals. Because it is distributed in the same domain as the giant panda, more than 20 nature reserves in Sichuan have been well protected as the giant panda. China Zoo Association has also established a pedigree of red pandas raised all over the country, and paid attention to breeding research and the establishment of artificially raised populations. In principle, the export of non-artificially bred red pandas has always been prohibited. 1980 established the international red panda pedigree, which provided data for the inheritance and quantity management of red pandas. In the past 10 years, many countries in the world have made regional panda management plans. China has also formulated a management plan for the China Red Panda and participated in the global management plan for the Red Panda. The management of red pandas has made satisfactory progress.