Red Pandas: Everything You Need To Know!

Welcome to Paradise Wildlife Park. My name's Emily and I'm one of the keepers here at the park. So joining me are our two lovely red pandas. So we've got Tilly and Nampang. So Nampang is just on his way round for a bit of apple. That is his absolute favourite. I'm just going to offer that to him now. He doesn't seem too fussed on that. Sometimes he likes it, sometimes he doesn't. And then Tilly is going to get a great cool herb of fruit. So we always, at the end of them eating the fruit, we always show them that empty pot, just so that they actually know that the fruit has all gone. It's a little bit of a reward for them basically coming to see us. And then once they've had their fruit, we tend to pop up some bamboo. So I'm just going to pop up some bamboo for them now. So as I said, we've got Tilly and Nampang here. So this is Tilly just over here and Nampang's just over here. So the way you tell them apart is really the colouration of their fur a little bit. So Tilly's a much darker red, whereas Nampang's got a bit more of an auburn-y brown colour. And as well their face, so Tilly's got quite a round face, whereas Nampang's is quite oval. And another kind of thing as well is actually their tail. So unfortunately Tilly has experienced a bit of fur loss on the end of her tail. And so that is why she's kind of looking a bit sparse in fur on there at the minute. So again, that's another really easy way you can kind of tell them apart. I think she's eyeing up a little bit more fruit for the minute. But that is her kind of set amount for the day. So we do kind of tend to kind of really offer them a very small amount just because it is quite sugary. So we don't want to offer them too much purely because it would be pretty bad for their teeth. In the wild they would eat small amounts of fruit, but it would be very, very tiny amounts. And it would be a lot more bitter than our own fruit. So our fruit really is more to cater to our taste buds. So it's very, very sugary, in which case that is why we kind of really specifically weigh it out. So 95% of a red panda's wild diet actually would be made up of bamboo. So that is why we've offered them some bamboo today. Bamboo makes up 95% of their wild diet. An adult in the wild could eat up to 200,000 leaves each day. So obviously that is an absolutely insane amount of bamboo. It is far beyond what we can feasibly grow here on site as well. So as much as we do grow it around site and we chop it down for them every single day so they have a natural form of their food, we do also give them a couple of other food sources just to make sure that they get their daily requirement. So we give them something called leaf eater pellet and also something called panda cake, which is Tilly's absolute favourite. She can't get enough of this stuff. And then they get bamboo just as kind of a bit more of a natural part of their diet. As I said, obviously as well, they do get a small amount of fruit, but it is a very small amount. And it really is just a bit of a reward for them coming to see us. And we do also offer it to them during training as well. So as you can probably imagine, health checking a red panda when they're all the way up in the tree is pretty difficult. And you'd have to be very good at climbing. And so what actually we tend to do is actually we get them to come down and see us. So by offering them that small amount of fruit, it kind of just gives them a bit more of incentive to come and see us, to partake in training so we can do health checks for them so we can check their teeth. We can also do weight training with them, station training, which for Tilly is quite important because if we were to have cubs off of these two, we would need to be able to feel her stomach just to see if she were pregnant, basically. So the training is really, really crucial and it's really good for us as keepers to build up trust with our animals. Thank you guys for tuning in to watch our red panda live stream today. Please remember that we are still closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And if you would like to support our amazing red pandas and all the other beautiful animals that we have at Paradise, you can do so by donating stars down in the comments. So although bamboo and fruit is the majority of a red panda's diet, they are actually still classed as carnivores. You can see they have got incredibly sharp claws and also really sharp carnatal teeth. And basically the reason for this is because hundreds of thousands of years ago, they would have primarily eaten meat. But they've now adapted to this really kind of mainly bamboo based diet because it was readily available in their environment. And so although they don't really eat meat on a daily basis, we do tend to kind of try and offer it to them kind of usually about once or twice a year. Tilly, however, you wouldn't think it, but she has actually managed to catch and eat two pigeons since she's been here. So she's been very, very successful. But with Nampang, he tends to be a little bit more not so sure on the meat. He doesn't tend to be as forward about it when we do offer it to them. So these guys have incredible adaptations. You'll probably see the way they have been climbing in and around the tree. Their back ankles actually rotate 180 degrees. So if you watch them as they climb, you'll see how they rotate. And what this basically means they can do is they can actually climb headfirst down trees. So it's an amazing adaptation to have. If your main predators in the wild are things like snow leopards, who can climb very, very well as well. You want to be able to get out of the tree nice and quickly and away from the snow leopards. So if you're just climbing bumpers down the tree, it's going to be pretty slow and not very effective. So it's a really, really good way just to kind of get away from them nice and quickly. They do also have some other amazing adaptations. So you can probably see the kind of red and white coloration of their fur. So in the bamboo forest that they live in, they actually grow red mosses and white lichens. So that means that these guys stay nice and camouflaged in the leaves that grow these mosses and lichens. And as well as that, they also obviously have this really nice long tail, which basically just is perfect for balance. So when they're climbing in and around the trees, it really helps them to stay nice and balanced. So you've probably seen as well the way Tilly's actually gripping onto the bamboo with her claws. So these guys have an adaptation called a full stun. So they share it with the giant panda, even though they're actually not closely related at all. And what it basically does, it just means it's an extension of their wrist bone, which means they can pull the bamboo a little bit closer towards themselves. So as I mentioned, they're not closely related to the giant panda, even though they share that adaptation. And the reason for this is basically because these guys aren't really in that kind of family at all. So these guys actually have recently been discovered to actually have two different species of red panda. So you've got the Himalayan red panda, just like these guys, and also the Chinese red panda. And actually with these guys, they're in their own family of their own. So they've got no living relatives. They are incredibly unique. And so when they were first discovered, they were put into their family. But they were then actually moved across the raccoon family and then actually moved into their own family where obviously they have no living relatives. So they are incredibly unique and they are definitely a species that we need to do a lot to protect. And unfortunately, they are incredibly endangered in the wild. Again, thank you guys so much for tuning in today. We really appreciate your support on all of our live streams because we are still closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you would like to support Paradise further and help us continue to bring you amazing content like this with our gorgeous red pandas, please consider donating some stars down in the comments so that we can continue to support and help our animals for years to come. So obviously as well, I've mentioned that these guys are unfortunately endangered out in the wild. Some estimates have shown there could be as few as 2,000 left. So obviously if that is the case, that is pretty drastic and there's definitely a lot we need to do to help them. So the main issues they're actually facing is habitat loss. So obviously these guys require nice big trees to live in in the wild. And obviously with habitat loss, lots and lots of trees being taken down to collect firewood. Also to make room for agriculture and stuff like that as well. They are also unfortunately hunted for their fur. So some cultures do believe it is good luck to get a red panda hat on your wedding day. And so that actually does encourage, unfortunately, people to poach them from the wild, kill them and use their fur. And also, believe it or not, they are also poached out of the wild to be kept on as pets. You can see these guys, they do exactly what they want. They've got incredibly sharp claws, sharp teeth. They definitely don't make good pets. But unfortunately in some cultures they do believe that they do. And so that is really having an effect on their numbers as well. They are also unfortunately kind of hunted by dogs. And actually quite a lot of disease is passed across from dogs to these guys as well. So that's causing another few issues for them as well in the wild. So there's a lot we can do here to help them. And so we actually have bred really successfully our red pandas in the past. So Tilly actually bred with our previous Maltese man. And they actually produced four cubs. So two boys and two girls on two separate years. So two litters of twins. They've actually now gone on to different zoos around Europe for the breeding programme. So we're actually part of what's called an EEP. So it's a European Breeding Programme. And what we do, red pandas that are born throughout this breeding programme, then get moved on to new collections as they are solitary animals anyway. So once they reach about a year old, they would tend to wander from their mum in the wild anyway. So actually it means that they can then move on to a new zoo, hopefully get a breeding partner, and then actually continue with the breeding programme. What this basically does, it ensures that the genetics of the species within captivity are kept really pure. And obviously that is really, really important. Because if at any point we did have to actually look to breed to release, we would be able to do this knowing that the population genetics are really, really pure. So with these guys as well, we do lots of different things to help them, as well as a lot of conservation stuff with the Red Panda Network. So we have things like our conservation cabin, which we have open throughout the year. This is actually run solely by volunteers. So the proceeds from that go straight to our charity, the Zoological Society of Hertfordshire. And we distribute all that money to different conservation efforts around the world, one of which does actually include the Red Panda Network. And we put on Red Panda Weekends every single year. So it's one of the best weekends of the year. And you basically buy everything Red Panda related, and all of the proceeds go straight to the Red Panda Network. So they are a brilliant charity working primarily in Nepal. And what they're actually doing, they're actually hiring local people. So they are hiring these people to be forest guardians, and actually to go out and tell villages about the Red Pandas, so actually we know a little bit more about them. And so actually then, because people are more educated about them, they're then more willing to protect them, and obviously realise why they are so important. As well, they're actually kitting out brand new stoves in all different villages in the huts, purely because it's really more of a community-based approach to conservation. So actually they are helping the community, which then in turn helps the Red Pandas. So these brand new stoves basically mean that less firewood is being collected, so then in turn less trees are being taken down. And as well as that, it is actually helping the community by actually increasing their health. Because these new stoves are actually not causing as much fumes to go into the huts, it's actually increasing the health and improving the health of the local people as well. We hope you guys are enjoying the Red Panda Live today. If you would like to support these pandas, the Red Pandas rather, and all the rest of the amazing animals we have here at Paradise, please consider donating stars to us down in the comments below, because they really are helping us get through this really tough period, where we are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So we are hoping that these two will also be a successful breeding pair. So Tilly is a bit of a middle-aged panda now. She is actually coming up to her 9th birthday, and Nampang is actually coming up to his 3rd birthday. So June, July and August is actually Red Panda birthday season. Basically because these guys tend to breed December to early March, and then they tend to have their cubs June to early August. So actually Tilly will be turning 9 on the 22nd of June, and Nampang will be turning 3 on the 14th of June. So with these guys, Nampang was sent here. He's been unfortunately passed away, because he was a new potential breeding partner for Tilly. So we are hoping that they'll be successful. The first year, he was a little bit terrified of Tilly, because she was showing a lot of interest in him, and he wasn't so sure. He was quite young still. He wasn't quite fully mature yet. But this year, he has been a little bit more susceptible to her interest. He's been a bit more interested in her. He's actually been displaying lots of really good signs. So things like neighing, also a lot of scent marking. So quite often when you watch the pandas, you might see them do a little bit of a bum wiggle on different parts of the enclosure. And that is just them scent marking. So essentially that is actually just them telling the other Red Panda that actually they're there, and they're there potentially to help with breeding and stuff like that. So hopefully we'll have a bit more luck with these guys. Again, we didn't see any successful breeding this year, but you never know. We're not here all the time, so we may be lucky. But we won't really know until kind of during the next couple of months. But if not this year, then we are hoping fingers crossed for next year. Thank you guys for tuning in again today. This is a very difficult period for all zoos and wildlife parks across the UK. So if you are able to donate some stars to us in the comments, it would be very much appreciated. All of the donations go directly towards supporting our animals and conservation efforts that we support around the world. So again, we really do appreciate you watching and sharing this live stream to spread the word about the amazing Red Pandas and the plight that some zoos are having to go through right now.