22 Facts That Will Make You Fall In Love With Red Pandas
They're more than just adorable balls of fur.
1. Red pandas use their long, bushy tails to balance when they're roaming around in trees.
2. They have thumbs, but they don't work. They're actually just extensions of the wrist bone.
Thumbs are for losers, anyway.
3. Red pandas are loners, preferring to travel alone rather than in pairs or in a pack.
Perfect buddies for all the introverts out there.
4. They sleep all day, party all night.
Red pandas are most active between dusk and dawn.
5. Their tail doubles as a wraparound blanket on cold days.
Adorable AND practical.
6. Red pandas are around the size of a household cat.
7. Red pandas are able to have cubs when they're only one year old.
Kids having kids, am I right?
8. They spend most of their time in trees, straight chilling.
9. Female red pandas only have to be pregnant for around four months before giving birth.
So lucky.
10. They really confuse scientists.
It's not entirely clear what red pandas actually are. Some say they're related to the giant panda, some say they're a member of the feline family. At the moment, red pandas form a unique family called the Ailuridae.
11. They make nests.
Nests are awesome.
12. Red pandas are also known as 'lesser pandas'. Rude.
But they remain confident in the knowledge that they're not 'lesser' than ANYONE OR ANYTHING.
13. People also call red pandas 'red cat bears.'
A more literal approach.
14. Red pandas live in super cool places, like Nepal, northern Myanmar, and China.
They like to live in the mountains, possibly because they have a strong sense of adventure/love to unwind after a busy week with a lovely Sunday morning hike.
15. The red panda is the mascot of the Darjeeling international festivals.
Plus, the mascot of the 2014 Lok Sabha election, AND the state animal of Sikkim.
16. Male red pandas fight by standing on their hind legs and boxing.
It is intended as a serious event, but their adorable fluffiness just makes the whole thing unbearably adorable.
17. A group of red pandas is called a 'sleuth'.
18. They're graceful in trees, but totally clumsy on the ground.
Red pandas fall down a lot. It's funny.
19. They're pretty easy-going when it comes to food.
As well as lots of bamboo, red pandas are happy to eat insects, berries, blossoms, leaves, acorns, and eggs.
20. Their front legs are angled inwards, so their walk is more like a waddle.
Their fluffy feet add to the cuteness of this.
21. A female red panda can eat around 200,000 bamboo leaves in one day.
Red pandas can spend up to 16 hours of the day eating. Impressive.
22. Red pandas are completely, utterly, ridiculously adorable.
They are soft, fluffy, and make dumb faces. They are better than most people. Fact.