Fota Wildlife Park Celebrates the Birth of Two Endangered Red Panda Cubs
Public invited to help name the new arrivals ahead of International Red Panda Day
Fota Wildlife Park is delighted to announce the birth of two endangered red panda cubs, one male and one female, born on the 14th of June to mother Laxmi and father Grga.
Fota Wildlife Park participates in the Ex-situ Endangered Species Breeding Programme (EEP) for red pandas. Classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, red pandas face significant threats in the wild, with estimates documented between 2,500 and 10,000 mature individuals remaining in their natural habitats.
The established breeding pair at Fota consists of the cubs’ mother Laxmi who came to Fota Wildlife Park from Longleat Safari in England in July 2019 while their father Grga, came from Zagreb Zoo, Croatia in June 2019. Both Laxmi and Grga are eight years old.
Now just over three months old, the twins have spent their first few months of life safely developing in their nest boxes, where they have been carefully nursed and tended to by their mother. The animal care team has recently observed the cubs becoming increasingly active and playful, and they have started to explore their surroundings during the late evenings.
To celebrate International Red Panda Day on Saturday, 19th of September, Fota Wildlife Park is inviting visitors to help choose names for the red panda cubs in keeping with the species native range and cultural heritage. A suggestion box is now open in the Serengeti Shop at the Wildlife Park, where visitors can submit their name ideas for the twins and be in with a chance to win one of two Conservation annual passes.
Lead Ranger John Leahy said: “Although the cubs were born back in June, they have spent these early months sleeping, resting and feeding, with their mother Laxmi taking excellent care of them. At the moment, the cubs are not generally out during the day, but they have been venturing out at dusk when the Wildlife Park is closed. They are now over three months old, so we expect to see them becoming much more active during the daytime in the coming weeks.
They may still be quite small, but they already look like fully formed little red pandas. It is fantastic to see them developing so well. Laxmi is a very experienced mother, has a very calm temperament which lends well to her having relaxed cubs.
Grga, meanwhile, is no stranger to fatherhood. This is his fourth set of cubs at Fota Wildlife Park as part of the EEP. Grga is also a familiar favourite with Fota’s rangers and will often come down from the trees to interact with the animal care team, especially for his favourite treat, grapes!”
Native to the temperate forests of the Himalayas, red pandas have a range extending from western Nepal through Bhutan, northern Myanmar, and into southern and central China. Despite their name, red pandas are not closely related to giant pandas and exist in their own distinct family. They are instead distantly related to racoons and coatimundis.
Although classified in the order Carnivora, red pandas are primarily herbivorous, with bamboo shoots making up the vast majority of their diet. At Fota Wildlife Park, the red pandas are provided with fresh, locally grown bamboo harvested from the Park itself. The mild climate of Cork provides excellent conditions for growing bamboo, helping to supply a significant proportion of the red pandas’ diet.
The red panda cubs join a succession of births the past few months at Fota Wildlife Park including Asian lion cubs, Sumatran tiger cubs, a Nubian giraffe calf, an Indian rhino calf, two European bison and two Kafue leche calves and a white-tailed sea eagle chick.
The naming competition is now open in the Serengeti Shop within Fota Wildlife Park and will close on the 11th of October.
