The red panda, Ailurus fulgens, is a largely vegetarian mammal of the raccoon or procyonid family, native to the Himalayas and southern China. Like the giant panda, it eats large amounts of bamboo, but its diet also includes fruit, roots, acorns, and lichen, and captive red pandas readily eat meat. Red pandas are excellent climbers, and probably forage largely in trees.
Adults are largely solitary and mainly nocturnal. Female pandas give birth to litters of one to four young (most often two) between mid-May and mid-July. The young are born fully furred, but blind and helpless, and are weaned at five months of age. Sexual maturity occurs at age 18-20 months.
The species is endangered, largely because of habitat loss, though there is also some illegal hunting.