Red pandas are a highly specialized species with numerous distinguishing characteristics, but they are also vital to world biodiversity. They have been designated as a flagship species and an indication of the ecological health of the Eastern Himalayan Broadleaf Forest Ecoregion, which sustains over 500 million people and is one of our planet's biodiversity hotspots! Red panda conservation has landscape-level effects, and like an umbrella, it protects the entire ecoregion (its trees and fauna). Here are fifteen more fascinating red panda facts!

1. Red Pandas Are the Original Pandas
Frédéric Cuvier originally characterized the red panda as the most beautiful animal he had ever seen in 1825, about 50 years before the gigantic panda was found. From 1804 to 1838, Georges-Frédéric Cuvier was the head keeper of the menagerie at the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris (the year he died). He was the younger brother of Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, the 'founding father of paleontology.' Georges-work Frédéric's was also well-known, and it was cited in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species and Herman Melville's Moby-Dick! The western red panda was first described by Georges-Frédéric (Ailurus fulgens fulgens). F. W. Styan found and described another red panda subspecies, Ailurus fulgens styani, now refulgens, in 1897. Now you see why red pandas are the original pandas.

2. They Have No Relationship to Giant Pandas
The red panda's name could lead you to suppose that its closest relative is the giant panda, however research suggest that they are most closely connected to raccoons! Recent genetic study also links them to the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, otters, and wolverines.

3. A Red Panda's diet is 98% vegetarian. Bamboo
Red pandas must consume 20 to 30 percent of their body weight in bamboo each day – up to 20,000 leaves! Bamboo does not provide much nutrients, and they can only absorb roughly 24% of it. So, why do red pandas consume it? In the cloud woods where red pandas reside, bamboo may grow quickly and abundantly. Because bamboo is a low-calorie food source, there isn't much competition for it among local fauna, therefore it may be a bountiful food supply! While bamboo accounts for the majority of a red panda's diet, they will also consume eggs, insects, flowers, birds, and small mammals when available.

4. They Have Several Names
Red pandas are known by numerous names, including firefox, red bear-cat, red cat-bear, and the smaller panda, in addition to the first and original panda.

5. Red Pandas Are Similar to Cats (and Bears)
Although many of the similarities are due to the mama-panda-baby-panda bond, one of their nicknames is 'red bear-cat.' Their cubs (like bears) are born in the wild from June to September and spend the most of their time in their dens for the first three months. When they are hungry, cubs utilize high-pitched whistles to gain their mother's attention.

6.They Are Carnivores.
Red pandas are categorized as carnivores because they share ancestors with other carnivores, yet their diet consists primarily of bamboo. They descended from Simocyon batalleri, often known as the 'short-snouted dog'! This carnivorous, tree-dwelling cousin of the red panda existed in the late Miocene and early Pliocene epochs and was roughly the size of a mountain lion. Simocyon fossils have been discovered in Europe, Asia, and North America.

7. Red Pandas' Front Paws Have Six Digits
Red pandas have a pseudo-thumb, which is an expanded, modified wrist bone that they utilize to climb trees and grip bamboo stems and tree branches. Giant pandas, too, have pseudo-thumbs, but for different reasons. This is an example of 'convergent evolution,' which occurs when two unrelated species experience comparable circumstances and develop to resemble one another. In this scenario, the red panda's false thumb evolved to aid in tree climbing and was only subsequently adapted for the bamboo diet, but giant pandas evolved this almost similar characteristic due to their bamboo diet.

8. They Sleep for Two-Thirds of the Day Red pandas may sleep for up to 17 hours every day! They are both nocturnal and crepuscular (active during the twilight hours) and like to rest on tree branches or in tree hollows.

9. Red Pandas sleep in their tails.
Yes, it is as adorable as it sounds. A red panda's tail can be 12 to 20 inches long — nearly the length of their body — and provides them with exceptional balance while navigating the treetops. In their frigid alpine home, they will also utilize their tails as wraparound blankets.

10. Red Pandas Stand on Their Hind Legs
When provoked or threatened, red pandas will stand on their hind legs to appear larger.