THE LESSER PANDA
Ailurus fulgens
The lesser Panda (Ailurus fulgens), also known as the Red Panda is the only existing representative of the Ailurids family. Although it is not closely related to the Giant Panda, which belongs to the Ursid family, it shares the habit of feeding mainly on bamboo leaves. Its feeding is very peculiar considering that both belong to the order of the Carnivors. Like the giant Panda, the lesser Panda has a fake thumb, like a “sixth finger”, which is used to catch bamboo reeds and is also used to climb more easily on trees.The lesser Panda mainly lives in the temperate forests of the Himalaya between 1,500 and 4,800 meters high. After a 5 month long pregnancy the female usually gives birth to two baby pandas. It rears its babies in the tree holes or rock cracks. It is particularly active at night, it mainly feeds on bamboo, which accounts for over 80% of its diet, but it also eats roots, lichens, small vertebrates, bird eggs, larvae, and insects. Lesser pandas are few thousands in the whole world and their quantity has decreased over the late 40 years. The surviving of these animals is endangered by the deforestation of their habitat as well as by illegal hunting in some areas of China, where the fur and the tail of these animals are very sought after.
