Unusual Animals:
RED PANDA Most of us think of pandas as the giant black-and-white bear weighing close to 350 lbs. Did you know there is also a red panda that doesn’t even resemble that big bear? Read along and learn. • The red panda, found in Nepal, India, Bhutan, and part of China, isn’t really a panda at all, or even a bear. It shares the habitat of the giant panda of the foothills of Nepal’s Himalayan Mountain range and in the cool bamboo forests of central China, and eats the same diet, but there the similarities end. The red panda more closely resembles a raccoon, complete with a ring-striped tail, and in fact belongs to the same genetic superfamily as the raccoon, skunk, weasel, and badger. • It’s just slightly larger than a household cat, about 25 inches long, with a long bushy tail of an additional 19 inches, which it uses as a wraparound blanket on cold nights. A red panda will weigh from 7 to 14 pounds when fully grown. Its entire body, even the bottom of its feet, is covered with soft dense fur. • For the most part, red pandas are herbivores, a plant-eating animal. However, they do supplement their diet with fish, bird eggs, and insects when available, as well as fruit during the warmer seasons. They also like mushrooms and acorns but two-thirds of their diet consists of bamboo. Unfortunately, bamboo is not a very good source of energy as well as being hard to digest. The panda must spend 13 hours a day eating and looking for food in order to sustain its body, and must eat 20% to 30% of its body weight each day – between 2 and 4 lbs. of bamboo shoots and leaves. A panda might eat up to 20,000 bamboo leaves in one day!
• The pandas spend most of their lives in trees, feeding and sleeping. They aren’t social animals, and keep pretty much to themselves, leading a solitary life. A typical panda’s life span is about eight years. • The name “panda” translates from the Nepali language “ponya,” which means “bamboo or planteating animal.” In the Chinese, the name is “hunho,” translating “firefox,” which is used by Mozilla as the name of their browser. (Mozilla had originally considered “Firebird” as the name, but discovered it was already been used.) • Because it’s estimated that there are fewer than 10,000 adult red pandas remaining, it’s classified an endangered species. While hunting is illegal in most places, in southwest China, they are hunted for their fur, particularly the bushy tails, from which hats are created. The tails and hides are frequently part of weddings, as bridegrooms traditionally carry the hide, and panda tail hats are considered good-luck charms for newlyweds. Images of the panda have been discovered in 13th-century Chinese artwork as part of a hunting scene. • Fans of the animated Kung Fu Panda films will recognize the character of Shifu as an elderly red panda. Voiced by Dustin Hoffman, Shifu serves as the strict kung fu master.
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Weekly SUDOKU
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King CROSSWORD
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