A Pair of Red Panda Twins Born in Somerset

A rare set of red panda twin has born in a safari park near Frome in Longleat, Somerset. This is only the second instance of a female red panda giving birth to cubs at this safari park. Keepers at the park are very delighted to see the new guests.

Dad Ajenda had arrived at Longleat in 2012 from Germany. The mother panda, Rufina, came in 2013, and was brought from Italy. Both these animals were part of the European Endangered Species Programme for the Red Panda.

“We’re delighted with how well Rufina is looking after the young cubs and both mother and babies are doing brilliantly,” keeper Sam Allworthy said.

“Cubs don’t tend to start venturing out on their own for the first three months and Rufina, like all red panda mums, regularly moves the cubs to different nesting areas.”

“This is perfectly natural behaviour but makes keeping track of the babies, or even confirming what sex they are, somewhat problematic for us, although we are pretty sure both babies are female.”

Red pandas have to eat large quantities of bamboo leaves to survive. These animals spend much of their time either sleeping or eating bamboo leaves.

Earlier this week, good news for panda fans came when the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared that giant pandas are no longer an “endangered species”, and are now being downlisted to ‘vulnerable’.

According to an IUCN repot, China’s State Forestry Administration has made good efforts to protect forests in the country and carry out reforestation, which resulted in increase of forest cover and a 12% increase in occupied habitat for the animals.

The agency has also pointed out that much work remains to be done in the war against extinction of giant pandas. It is highly likely that climate change destroys over 35% of panda’s habitat in the next 80 years, and Chinese government needs to continue its efforts towards conservation of giant panda’s habitat.

Although, there is improvement in panda’s status, there are many other species that are at the verge of being extinct. One of them is Eastern gorilla, who population has decreased by more than 70% in the past two decades due to poaching and the animal is now listed as critically endangered.