Essay On Red Panda

Red Panda

The Red Panda has been previously classified in the family of racoons and bears but recent research has placed them in their own family called ‘ailuridae’.

The red panda’s diet is very unusual for a mammal as it mostly consists of Bamboo. When the weather is warm enough they also eat insects and fruits. The red panda is slightly larger animal than a domestic cat with a bear like body and thick dense fur. The belly and all the limbs are black, and there are white coloured markings on the side of the head and above its small circular eyes. Red pandas are very skilful and acrobatic animals that mostly rests in trees. Almost 50% of the red panda’s habitat is in the Eastern Himalayan Mountainous region. They use their long, bushy and fur tails for balance and to cover themselves in winter, obviously for comfort and warmth. The name panda is said to originate from a Nepali word ‘ponya’ which means bamboo or plant eating animal!

In Sikkim, an area of 1341 km2 is allocated as a native habitat for the red pandas and it was found that more than 60% of this place lies on the outskirts of the protected area network.

What Are Endemic Species?

• Endemic species are plants and animals that are found only in one particular geographic region naturally.

• Species can be endemic to large or small areas of the earth; some

It is a tall bird with a horizontal body and elongated bare legs, giving it an ostrich kind of appearance. This bird is one of the heaviest of the flying birds. Once common on the dry plains of the Indian Subcontinent, as low as 250 individuals were estimated in 2011 to be alive and the species is critically endangered by hunting and loss of its habitat, which consists of large expanses of dry grassland and scrub. These birds can be often found associated in the same habitat as the blackbuck. It is currently protected under Wildlife Protection Act 1972 of