Red panda gives birth to rare triplets

06/30/2009

An endangered red panda in the Himalayan foothills of eastern Nepal/
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

Without a doubt, red pandas are one of the world’s cutest animals. They look sort of like a red raccoon, but they eat bamboo like giant pandas, though they’re not closely related to them. Scientists currently believe they’re more closely related to coatimundis, which are also in the procyonid family, which includes raccoons. I have to say though, I think they are far cuter than raccoons. Even the adults look like cubs with their close-set eyes and sweet faces. Red pandas live in broadleaf forest in the Himalayan foothills of Central Asia, from Nepal to China. I spent several days trekking through broadleaf temperate forests in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal searching for them with scientists and trackers from the Red Panda Network, and RPN-Nepal. Few Westerners have ever seen them in the wild, and most photos you’ll see come from captivity.

Red pandas are in the news because a female gave birth to not one, not two, but three babies on June 11th, one male and two females, at the Dakota Zoo in Bismarck, North Dakota. Multiples are rare in this species; most give birth to only a single cub. And the zoo was thrilled with the triplet cubs because red pandas are endangered species, and the zoo is involved in a worldwide captive breeding program.

I wrote about my Nepal red panda eco-trek adventure for National Wildlife magazine in their Feb/Mar 2009 issue, Fighting for the Firefox. One of their many nicknames, Firefox, is the namesake for the popular web browser! During the trek, in addition to the privilege of spotting three red pandas – all on the last two days of our trek – I learned about the groundbreaking community-based conservation work of the Red Panda Network and RPN-Nepal. Executive Director Brian Williams has helped create a team of Nepali forest guardians that help protect the forests from poaching. The organizations also recently started offering ecotours (I went on one of the first) of eastern Nepal. The long-term goal is to convince locals that red panda are worth more alive as a beloved species that will bring international travelers – and hence an economic boon – to a very poor part of the world, and to teach them of the ecological importance of this species. Deforestation is rampant in eastern Nepal and the red panda need forests – particularly bamboo - for survival.

Learn more about Red Pandas on Animal Planet.