Red Panda Facts for Kids: 12 Fun Things to Know

Red pandas are one of the cutest animals on the planet, and they're the inspiration for Georgie in The Adventures of Georgie the Red Panda. Here are 12 fun facts to share with your little animal lover.

Where red pandas live

1. They live in the mountains of Asia. Red pandas make their homes in cool, misty forests in the Himalayas and nearby mountains, in countries like Nepal, India, Bhutan, Myanmar and China.
2. They love trees. Red pandas spend most of their time up in the branches. They eat, rest and even sleep in trees.

What red pandas look like

3. They're about the size of a house cat. Most of their length is their big, fluffy tail.
4. Their tail is striped with rings. It helps them balance on branches, and they wrap it around themselves like a blanket when it's cold.
5. They have fur on the bottoms of their feet. Furry feet keep their toes warm and help them grip snowy, slippery branches.
6. They have a "false thumb." A special wrist bone works a little like a thumb, which helps them hold bamboo while they eat.

What red pandas eat

7. They eat mostly bamboo. They munch the leaves and tender shoots, and also snack on fruit, acorns, roots and sometimes eggs or insects.
8. They spend a lot of the day eating. Bamboo doesn't have much energy in it, so red pandas need to eat a lot of it.

How red pandas live

9. They're most active at dawn and dusk. That's when they wake up to look for food.
10. They like to be alone. Most red pandas live by themselves, except for moms raising their cubs.
11. They had the name "panda" first. Red pandas were called pandas before giant pandas were. Even though they share a name and both eat bamboo, they aren't close relatives. Red pandas belong to their very own animal family.

How we can help

12. Red pandas are endangered. There aren't many left in the wild, mostly because the forests they live in are being cut down. Zoos, scientists and conservation groups work to protect their forests. There's even an International Red Panda Day every September to help spread the word.

Fun activities to go with these facts

• Draw a red panda and label its tail, furry feet and false thumb.
• Find Nepal and China on a map or globe.
• Count the rings on a red panda's tail in a photo.
• Read a Georgie book and spot which red panda facts show up in the pictures.