International Red Panda Day is the 3rd Saturday of September each year. On this day, zoos, schools, and other groups around the world celebrate by creating as much red panda publicity as possible. This aims to raise public awareness and support for red panda conservation issues.
This year has been slightly different to previous years for everyone. However, this did not stop us from sharing this day with you. Mai Xlang and Yuzu appear to be getting on well with each other (considering the natural group formation for them would be solitary in wild). I think the last time I spoke to you about the pandas was when Yuzu first arrived at the park; so I’ll give you a quick update on how things are going.
Yuzu update
Being the Essex girl Mai is and recently being crowned the cutest animal at WWP, she still remains highly sophisticated and has an impeccable palate on her, although, she doesn’t demand pink lady apples quite as much as she used to, after all variety is the spice of life! So that means any man that comes into her domain must meet certain standards. Come forth Yuzu!
Being born in Italy and spending some time in France he is quite the well travelled young panda, a suitable pedigree for Mai one would say! This being her third boyfriend, husband, ‘friend’ since being at the park it would be nice to think this will be her last. However, its out of our hands as both find themselves on the studbook breeding program. Yuzu has settled in really well and his confidence with our help has come on leaps and bounds!
At first he was very reluctant to come over and take food from the keepers, now he’s like a gannet and can’t wait to see us at feeding times. At the age of 4 he’s fully grown and sexually mature. Providing we are given the green light by the studbook keeper it would be amazing to see baby pandas at the park once again in the not too distant future, so watch this space!
Raising awareness for Red Pandas
Giant pandas are well known to everyone as a WWF emblem or Chinese national symbol, whereas Red Pandas are smaller and far less recognized or appreciated. As I mentioned earlier it was recently International Red Panda Day. For me, being a Red panda keeper is all about creating as much publicity as possible by raising public awareness and support for red panda conservation issues.
At Wingham we do this in many different ways throughout the year, a keeper talk is done at 1.30pm everyday (not allowed at the moment because of covid but I look forward to it returning again in the future), experiences with them allowing you to get that bit closer, social media posts and signage around the enclosure telling you all about them. Once you have learnt and experienced some of the ways you can help you can build on this by spreading awareness about them through word of mouth.
With the decline in their habitat, I hope to encourage people to learn about these adorable creatures and help save the biome. They do not make it easy for themselves as they spend most of their lives in trees and even sleep aloft, but when they do come down to say hello…its love at first sight!
So, what is threatening them in the wild?
These rusty coloured creatures are experiencing a loss of nesting trees and bamboo, leading to a decline in the population, with a lot less than 10,000 in the wild more effort is needed to stop them from becoming extinct. It can be done as we have seen with the Giant Panda numbers on the increase, so why not do it for the red ones as well?
Here are some fun facts about Red Pandas which you may not have known.
- Only living member of the family, Ailuridae
- They share the giant panda’s pseudo-thumb, a modified wrist bone used to grasp bamboo when feeding.
- In very cold temperatures, they can become dormant, lowering their metabolic rate and raising it every few hours as they wake up to look for food.
- Date for your diary next year, International Red Panda Day is on September 18th 2021.
