Ringtail Panda (Ailurus fulgens): Red Cat-Bears of Mountainous Southwest Asia

Archaeological evidence attests to the ancient proliferation of ringtail panda-related relatives (Magerictis imperialensis, Parailurus anglicus, Parailurus hungaricus, Pristinailurus bristoli) about 3,000,000 – 4,000,000 years ago in:

• Eurasia, from China east- and north-ward to Britain, Italy, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Spain;
• North America.

But scientists nowadays attribute to ringtail pandas south Asian geographical distributions restricted to super-mountainous regions within:

• Bhutan;
• China;
• India;
• Laos;
• Myanmar;
• Nepal.

They conjecture populations surviving in southwest Tibet. They credit northeast India with:

• Disjunct populations in Sikkim and on the Meghalaya Plateau;
• Possible presences in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

They describe ringtail pandas as mountain fauna of:

• Himalayan mountain system ranges and subranges in Bhutan, India, and Nepal;
• Southwest China’s provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan.

Ringtail pandas access specific habitats within mountain environments. They appreciate altitudes well below the elevations beyond which trees do not grow and well within the heights at which forests offer healthy canopies.  They therefore choose densely forested niches 5,905.51 – 15,748.03 feet (1,800 – 4,800 meters) above sea level. Within that range, they particularly enjoy the canopy connectivity at 9,186.35 – 11,811.02 feet (2,800 – 3,600 meters) above sea level. But whatever plateau or slope which they call home, they expect access to:

• Bamboo understories (especially Fang’s cane [Bashania faberi]);
• Conifer forests;
• Mixed broad-leaved deciduous shrubs and trees (especially raspberry [Rubus spp], rhododendrons, rowan [Sorbus]);
• Old woody plants.

They favor year-round cool-to-moderate, moisture-laden temperatures between 50 and 77°F (10 and 25°C).

Red and white moss- and lichen-covered, mountain- and snow-dominated sylvan habitats blend seamlessly with ringtail panda coloring. Long, soft fur camouflages their upper-parts with red-brown and their limbs and under-parts with black. Twelve alternatingly red- and yellow-brown rings decorate each ringtail panda’s long, non-prehensile, plush tail. Each ringtail panda’s rounded head contrasts black, forward-facing, rounded eyes and a black, moist nose with:

• Forward-facing, pointed, red-backed, white-fringed ears;
• Red-brown tear-tracks;
• White cheeks, eyebrows, lips, muzzle, and whiskers;
• White dental formulas of 6 incisors, 2 canines, 6 premolars, and 4 molars equally distributed between the left and right upper jaws and 6 incisors, 2 canines, 8 premolars, and 4 molars evenly divided between the left and right lower jaws.

Behavior assists coloring in the survival of ringtail pandas. For example, ringtail pandas attempt to minimize confrontations with predatory snow leopards (Panthera uncia) and yellow-throated martens (Martes flavigula). They therefore avoid the ground except during annual January-to-March breeding seasons and sunset-to-sunrise-centered foraging for:

• Bamboo roots and shoots;
• Fresh acorns, bark, berries, fruits, lichens, mushrooms;
• Seasonal protein (eggs, insects, small birds and mammals).

They choose small-group life cycles in which adults:

• Nap, rest or sleep with the tail serving as blanket, chair or pillow;
• Occupy individual, lofty tree hollows or sheltered rock crevices;
• Raise newborns in leaf-and-stick-built nests within high tree or protected rock hollows;
• Take winter sunbaths with head and belly astride a branch and limbs dangling.

After one gestation of 90 – 160 days, female ringtail pandas deliver 1 - 4 buff-grey, fully-furred cubs between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. each or every other May/June to July/August. They immediately groom newborns to know their scents. Cubs hover around 3.88 – 4.59 ounces (110 – 130 grams) at birth and 7.05 ounces (200 grams) at 7 days. They manage to:

• Open their ears and eyes at age 17 – 18 days;
• Realize adult coloring at age 3  months;
• Take solid food at age 4 – 4-1/2 months;
• Unite with peers in group-living arrangements at weaning ages of 6 – 8 months;
• Welcome sexual maturity at age 18 – 20 months.

They survive 8 years in the wild and 15+ in captivity.

Females are one-fifth each male’s size. Cubs attain maturity with:

• Head-and-body lengths of 20 – 26 inches (50.8 – 66.04 centimeters);
• Tail lengths of 12 – 24 inches (30.48 – 60.96 centimeters);
• Weights of 3.3 – 14 pounds (1.36 – 6.35 kilograms).

They go from just high-pitched whistling to:

• Barking and grumbling distress;
• Bleating and twittering breedability;
• Quacking danger;
• Snorting defensive hisses while brandishing each paw’s 5 pinkish, razor-shape, semi-retractile claws and standing upright;
• Squeaking and whistling “conversation.”

They additionally master:

• Consuming paw-dipped water and paw-held food;
• Descending surfaces squirrel-like with ankles rotated;
• Grooming facial sections with each paw’s longest third digit, under-sides with saliva, and upper-sides by log-rubbing;
• Waddling with shorter forelimbs angled inward, tail straightened horizontally, and white-furred soles plantigrade (flat-pawed).

Ringtail pandas amaze viewers before and since official descriptions as the world’s most beautiful animal, Ailurus (“cat”) fulgens (“fire-colored”), by Montbéliard-born French zoologist Georges-Frédéric Cuvier (June 28, 1773 – July 24, 1838) in 1825. The nominate western-based A.f. fulgens and F.W. Styan’s China- and Myanmar-based A.f. styani epitomize common names as:

• Bright/red/shining panda;
• Firefox;
• Red bear-cat/cat-bear.

Within part-individualized, part-overlapping territorial ranges of 0.36 – 2 feces-/scent-/urine-marked square miles (0.94 – 5.18 square kilometers), both endure:

• Agro-industrialization;
• Globally-warmed climate change;
• Habitat fragmentation;
• Inbreeding;
• Pelt-poaching.

Both find as:

• Protection: National/zoological park breeding programs;
• Sustainability: Scientific/technological breakthroughs;
• Weapons: Each paw’s opposable false-thumbed sixth digit and every scent gland’s malodor.

Scientific commitment and viewer support just may win the red ring-tailed panda’s “uphill” battle.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

range of Ailurus fulgens: Victor.666, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Redpanda.svg

Nohkalikai Falls, East Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya state, northeastern India: Sohel78bd at en.wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nohkalikai_fall.JPG

Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden (founded 1873; opened September 18, 1875), Hamilton County, southwestern Ohio: Greg Hume (Greg5020), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RedPandaFullBody.JPG

Hemis National Park, Ladakh, northern India: Rodney Jackson (Irbis1983), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snow_Leopard_in_Hemis_National_Park.jpg

Tiergarten Schönbrunn (literally: Schönbrunn Zoo), aka Vienna Zoo, Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, northeast Austria: Aconcagua, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tiergarten_Schoenbrunn_Kleiner_Panda_2.jpg

Zoo Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia state, northwestern Germany: Rainer Halama, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dortmund-Zoo-Kleiner_Panda151930.jpg

Cincinnati Zoo, Hamilton County, southwestern Ohio: Greg Hume (Greg5030), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RedPandaDescent.JPG

Ailurus fulgens: DANIEL WONG from Newark, CA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lesser_panda_standing.jpg

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