Red Panda

True Wild Life | Red Panda | The red panda is thought to be a subspecies of the giant panda but the red panda only grows to around 1/3 of the size of the giant panda. The rat panda is has a very distinctive appearance mainly due to the markings of the red panda and the long bushy tail. Red pandas are found in mountainous regions of central Asia. The red panda tends to stay above altitudes of 1,800 ft and the red panda wont really go much higher than about 4,500 ft. Red pandas spend their lives in the trees and the cooler mountainous temperatures are perfect for the red panda as they do not agree with hotter climates.

Like their relatives the giant panda, the red panda cannot digest cellulose, a complex compound found in most plants. The red panda has to maintain diet of around 90% bamboo in order to keep itself alive and feasts on nuts, berries and smaller animals such as birds when out hunting for something tastier. Today the red panda is critically endangered with less than 3,000 red pandas left in the wild. This severe decline in the red panda population is mainly due to the destruction of the red pandas habitat but the fur of the red panda is also considered to be a good luck charm in the regions were the red panda lives in the wild.

Red pandas are more docile during the hotter daytime time and tend to pass the same snoozing in the trees. When the air gets a little cooler in the late afternoon and early evening, it is then the red panda looks for food and jumps around in the tree tops. Red pandas can be very agile animals and have been spotted being almost acrobatic when playing in the trees.

Red pandas are solitary animals so they have to actively seek out another red panda to mate with. Mating usually occurs between December and February and after a gestation period of around 5 months, the female red panda will give birth to between one and four red panda babies. The baby red pandas are born blind and begin to open their eyes after a couple of week, although the eyes of the baby red pandas will not be fully opening for at least a month. Red panda babies will remain in the nest with their mother until they are around 8 months old.

Due to the remote habitat in which red pandas live, their only real predators are the snow leopard and the human. It has been known however for baby red pandas to get preyed upon by larger birds of prey.

Giant Panda Bear

True Wild Life | Giant Panda Bear | The giant panda bear is native to the mountainous regions of central and southern China. The giant panda would have once inhabited more lowland regions like jungles and grassy plains although the giant panda is now restricted to the higher mountain areas due to increased farming and habitat destruction in the lowlands. The giant panda bear is an omnivore eating a range of things from honey, to fish and small mammals. The giant panda bear's diet consists of roughly 95% bamboo, which the panda bear needs to eat as the bamboo plays a crucial part in the giant panda bear's digestion and water intake.

Today the giant panda bear is considered to be an endangered species with only 1,500 giant pandas thought to be left in the wild. Giant pandas are fairly docile bears as the giant panda rarely comes into contact with people in the wild. However, the giant panda bears have been known to attack humans when confronted particularly when the giant panda bear is kept in captivity. Due to the giant panda bears soft and cuddly appearance, there has been a number of instances in zoos worldwide, where humans think the giant panda bear is cute and therefore enter the giant panda bears enclosure. These instances generally end with the tourists getting a nasty bite from the surprised, and generally sleeping giant panda.

Despite the fact the average adult giant panda bear weighs around 150kg, when a panda bear cub is first born, the giant panda cub only weighs around 100g which is the same weight as a small mouse! The giant panda bear soon grows and generally reaches the full giant panda size within the panda bear cubs first few years. Scientists believe that the giant panda bear populations are today rising, due to increasing awareness of the importance of protecting one of the most beautiful bear species in the world. Some believe that are there could be as many as 3,000 giant panda bear individuals in the wild which is double what they first anticipated, although the giant panda bear is far from being taken off the endangered species list.

In recent years that giant panda bear has become an extremely important icon for China, a country who generally regard the dragon as being its main national emblem. The Chinese people have begun to use the giant panda bear more and more on flags and emblems and are keen to help to promote the conservation of the giant panda bear. As with most bear species, the male giant panda bears are generally much bigger than the female giant panda bears and are thought to be territorial animals. The giant panda bears spend most of their waking life roaming the bamboo forests high in the Chinese mountains, searching for food.