Animale
Red panda
A red-coated inhabitant of mountain forests and the story of Łódź’s pair, Ofelia and Otello.
Lingua dei contenuti
The red panda inhabits mountain forests in the Himalayas and southern China. It spends most of its time in trees, where its reddish coat and pale facial markings help it blend with trunks covered in moss and lichen. Although it shares a name with the giant panda, it belongs to a separate family, Ailuridae. The distinction concerns ancestry, rather than simply size or coat colour.
Łódź Zoo has its own history of breeding the species. On 10 June 2025, Ofelia and Otello had another cub, whose birth was announced by the zoo in July. The young panda spent its first weeks in a nest box. Its mother moved it between shelters, a natural behaviour that helps provide suitable conditions for the cub. Keepers followed its development through monitoring cameras, reducing disturbance to the family.
Wild red pandas face habitat loss and poaching. Fragmented patches of forest separate groups, making movement and the exchange of genes more difficult. Protecting the species therefore means keeping forest areas connected, rather than merely leaving individual trees standing.
Per bambini
A red panda’s reddish coat fits well into its world of trees. Mosses and pale lichens grow on the trunks, helping its colours blend in. Red pandas live in mountain forests and spend much of their time above the ground. They do not belong to the same family as black-and-white giant pandas.
At Łódź Zoo, two pandas are named Ofelia and Otello. Another of their cubs was born in June 2025. At first it stayed in a nest box, and its mother moved it between shelters. Keepers used monitoring cameras to watch it grow while disturbing the family as little as possible.
In the wild, pandas need forests they can move between. When trees disappear, groups become cut off from one another. Their forest home needs to be bigger than a single tree.
Domanda 1 di 2
What is the red panda’s natural habitat?
- Posizione
- Outdoor garden, red panda enclosure near the tigers and anoa.