The 17th of September will be a very special day for one of our very cute and popular endangered species at the zoo as it is ‘International Red Panda Day!’ Over the weekend the zoo will be raising awareness and funds for the conservation of this incredible animal. We will have free children’s activity sheets and will be doing a public feeding talk and will have a conservation table where we will be selling badges and magnets to raise funds for The Red Panda Network and Flamingo Land’s Udzungwa Forest Project.

We currently have two red pandas at the zoo, a male named Bai Jiao aged 4 and a female named Tai Jang also 4! They both weigh around 5 kilograms and spend most of their time asleep up in the trees. They are most active during the gloomy hours of dusk and dawn.

The red panda diet consists mainly of bamboo (along with fruit and insects) and this is where they get their name from. ‘Panda’ in the Nepalese language means ‘bamboo eater’ so it shares the same name and territory as the giant panda, despite not being related. Red pandas are more closely related to the racoon and share a similar appearance.

The reasons for having a red panda day are unfortunately because their wild habitats in Nepal, China, Bhutan and India are being lost due to deforestation. Red Pandas are also poached for their fur and skins so now there are just 10,000 adults left in the wild. However the ‘Red Panda Network’ works tirelessly to help save the species by setting up protected forest areas, status surveys, awareness workshops and their very own ‘forest guardians’. This conservation project will not only help the red pandas but also the animals they share territory with such as clouded leopards, Himalayan black bears, and hundreds of bird species.

To help support our red pandas we shall be setting up a conservation table with a variety of activities and information all about them. With badges and booklets to be given out, any contributions will be going towards the Red Panda Network and also Flamingo Land’s very own conservation project in Tanzania.

Our pair of red pandas have successfully bred as they had their first cub the in summer of 2015 which was moved to another zoo earlier this year. They are trained to come down from the trees so that they can be regularly checked out to ensure they are healthy here at Flamingo Land.