Description:- Red Panda State Animal of Sikkim, State :- Sikkim
Post Office :- Gangtok H.O, Pin Code :- 737101
The red panda is a small arboreal mammal
found in the forests of India, Nepal, Bhutan and the northern mountains of
Myanmar and southern China.The red panda (Ailurus fulgens), also
known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native
to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown
fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle and a
ringed tail. Its head-to-body length is 51–63.5 cm with a
28–48.5 cm tail, and it weighs
between 3.2 and 15 kg. It is well adapted to climbing due to its flexible
joints and curved semi-retractile claws.The red panda was first formally described in 1825. The two currently
recognised subspecies, the Himalayan and the Chinese red panda, genetically diverged about 250,000 years
ago. The red panda's place on the evolutionary
tree has been debated, but modern genetic evidence places it in
close affinity with raccoons, weasels and skunks.
It is not closely related to the giant panda,
which is a bear,
though both possess elongated wrist bones or "false thumbs" used for
grasping bamboo.
The evolutionary lineage of the red panda (Ailuridae)
stretches back around 25 to 18 million
years ago, as indicated by extinct fossil relatives found in Eurasia and North
America. In India, it is found in Sikkim, western Arunachal Pradesh, Darjeeling
district of West Bengal and parts of Meghalaya. It is also the state animal of
Sikkim.
