The Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) also knows as the Lesser Panda, is about the same size as a large house cat (but cuter!). They hail from China, Burma and Nepal, and prefer to spend most of their lives up in trees, where other critters have to work harder to eat them.
Red Pandas live on a healthy diet of bamboo, fruit, eggs, insects and other small mammals. Those awesome fluffy tails? they use them to keep themselves warm on chilly mountain nights.
Unfortunately they're endangered, deforestation, competition from livestock and poaching have not been kind to these fluffballs. According to the National Zoo, there are less than 2500 adult red pandas remaining.
Fortunately, they do well in captivity, and captive breeding programs are proving to be moderately successful.
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