An animal of Himalayan forests that feeds mainly on bamboo leaves. It has a reddish-brown back and a long, ringed tail.
It spends time climbing trees and brings bamboo leaves to its mouth with a forepaw.
Red pandas climb trees and use their forefeet to handle bamboo leaves. Their mountain forests provide both food and resting places. In Nepal, researchers examined plant fragments in droppings to study how their diet changed across seasons.
Analysis of 161 scat samples collected in Langtang National Park, central Nepal, in April, July and October 2009 and February 2010 found fragments of the bamboo Thamnocalamus aristatus in 157 samples. It was recorded in all four seasonal sample groups, while other plant fragments varied by season.
GPS records from ten red pandas, six females and four males, tracked in Ilam and Panchthar, eastern Nepal, during 2019–2020 showed movement throughout the day and night. Movement was particularly high from dawn until three to four hours after sunrise.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Deforestation removes feeding and resting sites and fragments populations. Red pandas can also be caught in traps set for other animals.