Hampshire-based Marwell Zoo‘s male red panda, Tashi, welcomed a companion in September following the arrival of a female red panda called Cherry from Manor Wildlife Park in Wales.
Cherry is settling into her new home where she will share the zoo’s red panda habitat with Tashi, who arrived last year. Cherry is seven years old and will be in pod 1, closest to the walkthrough aviary, while she gets used to her new home.
Carrie Arnold, Carnivores Team Leader, said: “We’re excited to welcome Cherry to Marwell where she will share our red panda habitat with Tashi. Red pandas are Endangered in the wild where they have been hunted for meat, medicine and fur as well as being sold into the pet market.
“Whilst they may look cute, they have very sharp teeth and claws, and fur over their whole bodies including under their paws. Red pandas also have a ‘false thumb’, which is an enlargement of one of the bones in their wrist. It allows them to grab and hold onto things, mainly bamboo, and climb down trees headfirst!”
Tashi will have access to pods 2 and 3 until keepers decide they’re ready to be mixed in a few weeks’ time.
In the wild, red pandas can be found living in the trees of the Himalayas. They prefer to live near water, where bamboo is plentiful. They eat young leaves and shoots of bamboo, fruit, roots, succulent grasses, acorns, lichens, bird eggs and insects.
The species is classified as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List with populations continuing to decline. It is thought that in the last 18 years, red panda populations have decreased by 50% with fewer than 10,000 left in the wild.
Did you know?
- Red pandas are classified as carnivores but their diet is almost entirely made up of bamboo – they eat around 200,000 bamboo leaves a day!
- As the last living member of the Ailuridae family, red pandas are not related to giant pandas, which belong to the Ursidae bear family.
- The word panda means ‘eater of bamboo’
- Red Panda are also known as fire foxes
- Their distinctive red fur is used for camouflage; there is a lot of red moss and white lichen in the forests they originate from.
Marwell Zoo covers 140 acres with adventure play areas, cafes and ice cream stops as well as hundreds of animals including giraffes, tigers, meerkats, leopards and all three species of zebra.
Prebooking online is recommended for the best prices. More information about the zoo’s conservation work, animals and news can be found at www.marwell.org.uk
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