Tuesday 28 October 2014

Wild Red Pandas filmed in Myanmar for first time

A pair of endangered Red Pandas have been caught on film in Myanmar for the first time.

The team of scientists from Fauna & Flora International (FFI) captured a pair of pandas roaming the high-altitude, mixed bamboo and conifer forests of the Imawbum mountain range, in the country’s far north-east. The Red Pandas can be seen crawling slowly along a rocky landslide, caused by Chinese logging, up to the ruined forest to feed on bamboo leaves.

“When we encountered the two Red Pandas, we felt two emotions at the same time; incredibly happy for the direct sighting and for obtaining this first exciting footage, but terribly saddened seeing the state of their habitat and threats to the species’ survival,” said Saw Soe Aung, FFI’s field biologist who captured the couple on film.

With less than 10,000 mature individuals estimated to be left in the wild, the Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. They are endemic to temperate mountain forests of the Eastern Himalayas ranging from Western Nepal to China.

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