Red pandas are called red pandas because giant pandas are called pandas; giant pandas are called pandas because pandas are called red pandas. This is not a tongue twister, but a piece of scientific knowledge.

Many people think that red pandas are young giant pandas, or that little raccoons are red pandas, but these ideas are all wrong!

The baby of the giant panda is called the giant panda cub, not the red panda, and the little raccoon and the red panda are not the same species. In fact, did you know that the name panda actually refers to the red panda!

In 1825, the French zoologist Frédéric Cuvier first described and named the red panda, and praised it as "the most beautiful animal I have ever seen". At that time, the English name of the red panda was It's Panda.

More than 40 years later, scientists discovered another larger panda, which was very similar in structure to the red panda. In order to distinguish the two pandas, scientists renamed the panda discovered in 1825 as the red panda (Lesser). panda) or Red panda, and the panda discovered in 1869 is called Giant panda or Panda.

The red panda has a bear-like face, a cat-like body, and a larger body than a cat, with a reddish-brown body; a round face, white markings on the cheeks, and 12 red and dark rings. Many people have asked if the red panda and the giant panda are close relatives? In fact, red pandas and giant pandas do not belong to the same family at all, but their habitat distribution, habits and diets are quite similar, and they both like to eat bamboo.

The red panda is an endemic species in Asia and a rare animal in the Hengduan Mountains of the Himalayas. The adorable red panda is in serious existential risk. Due to the destruction of a large number of forests, the living environment and habitat of the red panda have been reduced.

Distribution range of red pandas: About 50% of the red pandas are distributed in the Himalayas, and about 38% are distributed in Nepal. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published a report in 2015, announcing that the red panda's endangerment level was changed from "vulnerable" to "endangered".

According to statistics, in the past 20 years, the number of red pandas in the world has dropped by 50%, and now there are less than 10,000 red pandas.

According to CNN's 2013 list of the world's cutest species, the red panda ranked 13th. Red pandas are also loyal sweets lovers, and their favorite fruit is apples.

However, according to research, red pandas seem to prefer artificial sugar to honey. In the animal kingdom, apart from primates, they are the only ones who eat aspartame.

It has to be said that the red panda has successfully captured the hearts of many people by itself, which to a certain extent has also increased people's protection of it. In Nepal, for example, killing, buying or selling red pandas is punished. In addition, in order to better continue the red panda population, red pandas have been successfully bred artificially.