Wednesday Afternoon Diversion: The Red Panda

By Kevin Robinson in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 13, 2011 8:00PM

Endemic to the temperate forests of the Himalayas, and found also in the foothills of western Nepal and into China, the Red Panda is considered a living fossil. The only species of the genus Ailurus, the red panda belongs to the family Ailuridae, of which all other genus are extinct. Omnivorous and nocturnal, the red panda (unlike the giant panda, to which it is actually not related) breeds well in captivity; in 2009 Lincoln Park Zoo asked the public for donations for a nesting box to help encorage reproduction among their captive red panda population. The Windy Citizen even set up a "Lincoln Park Red Panda Sex Fund" on ChipIn.

Here we see Lily and Lyra at Japan's Maruyama Zoo, playing in the snow back in January, shortly after they were born.