AnimalsThe red panda is a cat-sized animal with reddish fur and a long ringed tail. It is not a close relative of the giant panda, though both eat bamboo. It spends most of its life in trees and wraps its tail around itself for warmth. In India it lives in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and nearby hills.
Quick facts
- Scientific name
- Ailurus fulgens
- Group
- Mammals
- Diet
- Herbivore (eats plants)
- Lives in
- Eastern Himalayas and south-west China
- Habitat
- Mountain forests with bamboo
- A young one is called
- cub
- A group is called
- no special name
- Conservation status
- Endangered
How it is classified
Scientists sort living things into groups within groups. Reading down, each step is a smaller group, ending with the species itself.
- Kingdom Animalia
- Phylum Chordata
- Class Mammalia
- Order Carnivora
- Family Ailuridae
- Genus Ailurus
- Species Ailurus fulgens
More distant relatives in the order Carnivora: brown bear, cheetah, dog, domestic cat, giant panda, jaguar, leopard, lion, polar bear, red fox, sloth bear, snow leopard.
Classification follows the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Other reference works arrange some groups differently. How classification works.
Is it in danger?
The red panda is listed as Endangered. The species faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
This is the IUCN Red List category as recorded in Wikidata on 11 November 2026. The IUCN Red List itself is the authority and may carry a newer assessment. What the categories mean.