Animal of the Week, February 5, 2019 — one of our pandas is missing

A little bit belatedly to this week's animal, for it is the red panda (Ailurus fulgens), one of which had a brief excursion in the Northern Irish city of Belfast. This particular fluffball escaped from Belfast Zoo on Sunday January 27 had a merry stroll around the area of Glengormley before being captured on Monday an returned to its enclosure.

Poor panda must have been pretty confused, because Belfast (although I have never been) can't be much like the temperate montane forests of the Himalayas (Nepal, Tibet, and India) and Burma and China whence the red panda originates. Although their ranges and food sources overlap, red pandas aren't that closely related to giant pandas. In a family of their own (Ailuridae), red pandas are more closely related to raccoons, skunks, and weasels than to bears, the family to which giant pandas belong.

Nonetheless, both species of pandas have endearing facial markings and a penchant for bamboo. Another quirk possessed by both species is the so-called panda's thumb. Not a thumb at all, but a projection of a wrist bone, the appendage helps both species grasp onto and manipulate bamboo while feeding.

Both species of panda are also endangered, with wild individuals threatened by habitat loss and poaching. But fortunately for both species, their attractiveness makes them popular zoo animals and captive breeding programmes can help to conserve red panda, which is somewhat more reliable as a breeding animal in captivity than it's black and white namesake.

The Latin name, Ailurus fulgens, means "shining cat".


The zoo escape gave a brief foray into the urban environment for the panda and a tiny bit of a break from Northern Ireland only ever being mentioned in conjunction with the word "backstop". Still, the pandas home now and normal service has resumed.