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- Is a red panda a bear? No, nor are they raccoons! Scientists have long debated the red panda’s taxonomy. Red pandas were first described in 1825 as members of the raccoon family, because they have similar skulls, teeth and ringed tails. Later, DNA analysis suggested that red pandas might belong in the bear family.
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Sep 18, 2020 · Is a red panda a bear? No, nor are they raccoons! Scientists have long debated the red panda’s taxonomy. Red pandas were first described in 1825 as members of the raccoon family, because they have similar skulls, teeth and ringed tails. Later, DNA analysis suggested that red pandas might belong in the bear family.
At the time, most prominent biologists also considered the red panda to be related to the giant panda, which would eventually be found to be a bear. A 1982 study examined the similarities and differences in the skull between the red panda and the giant panda, other bears and procyonids, and placed the species in its own family Ailuridae .
Apr 19, 2024 · The classification of giant pandas has long been a subject of controversy. Anatomic, behavioral, and biochemical data have been used to place pandas with bear s (family Ursidae), with raccoon s (Procyonidae), or in a family of their own (Ailuridae).
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Red pandas, unlike black-and-white pandas, are not bears. —Smithsonian’s National Zoo Red pandas can poop the equivalent of their body weight in one week. —National Geographic
- Turning red. Or black and white? Firstly, the most obvious difference. At a standing height of five to six feet and a weighing up to 250 pounds (113 kg), the giant panda—and its higher altitude, slightly slighter subspecies the Qinling panda—is roughly comparable to a stocky, weighty human.
- Red in tooth and claw. The word ‘panda’ has an ambiguous origin, but one theory is that it is from either the Nepali nigalya ponya (‘bamboo eater’) or paja (‘claw’).
- Bearing up. The plot thickens when we consider how the giant panda got its name. It was a French missionary and naturalist named Père Armand David who, whilst roaming the Baoxing county in China's Sichuan Province, first brought the animal to western attention—in 1869, when he saw the shot carcass of a 'whitebear', as he called it.
- Furry fossils. Milne-Edwards questioned the strange creature's classification, claiming the skull, teeth and claws made it more physiologically aligned with a certain red haired, bamboo-eating member of the raccoon family described 40 years before—though clearly having climbed a good way along its own evolutionary branch.
The red panda is slightly larger than a domestic cat with a bear-like body and thick russet fur. The belly and limbs are black, and there are white markings on the side of the head and above its small eyes. Red pandas are very skillful and acrobatic animals that predominantly stay in trees.
Red pandas, like giant pandas, are bamboo eaters native to Asia’s high forests. Despite these similarities and their shared name, the two species are not closely related. Red pandas are much smaller than giant pandas and are the only living member of their taxonomic family.
