One of the cutest animals in the world has to be the Nigalya Ponya (which is the Nepalanese word for “eater of bamboo”).  But they are commonly refer to as Firefox and Red Panda besides the other creative names.  Scientific name: Ailurus fulgens.

Red pandas are native to mountains of Nepal and northern Myanmar (Burma), and central China.

Red Panda have this cute round face with dashes of white markings that give them an interesting expression.  Image source.

They are the size of cats and have ringed tails like raccoons. And like giant pandas, they have an extended wrist bone that functions almost like a thumb and aids with gripping. The red panda has been classified as a relative of the giant panda, and also of the raccoon. It wasn’t until recently considered members of their own unique family - the Ailuridae.

Their diet consist of bamboo, fruit, berries, and other vegetation.  Photo from The Himalayan Beacon.

They also sleep most of the time, almost as much as sloths. They also spend most of their lives in trees (again like sloths) as shy and solitary animals. And like cats, they are most active at night as well as in dawn and dusk.

The sad part about the red panda is that they are endangered and threaten species. This is mainly due to deforestation and poaching (illegal hunting). Their native environment continues to be destroy due to growing human population that cut down forest and turn them into agriculture land.

In parts of China, they are hunted for their furs and tails. As they believe a hat made from the fur is worn by newlyweds to symbolize a happy marriage. As much as I believe in respecting other people’s culture, this one I just can’t comprehend. Times change and certain things have to change along with it. Maybe they should just make a “know-off” of these fur hats instead.

The few bright side I see is that conservation is being done to save them, as hunting them is illegal. And there are also captive breeding programs being done in zoos. The two most successful are seen in Knoxville Zoo and Rotterdam Zoo.

We had this sweet kitty for a short moment of our life.  We named her “Little Panda” since she has the round Panda face with black and white markings. I thought this picture reminded me of the above red panda photo, especially the little red tongue sticking out.