Red pandas

[vilakins]

For those intrigued by the red pandas in my previous post, here's a better picture, scanned from this week's Listener (the article was about baby boomers; the woman in the pic was a high-powered executive who turned fulltime mother).



You can see their size and utter cuteness there--aww, look at the little tongue! She's probably feeding it fruit; they love that. The zoo hold 'encounters' like this at set times of the day and I'm going to plan my next visit around a few of them. I want to meet a red panda and touch one of the new cheetahs we're getting at Easter. :-D

Sadly, red pandas are endangered. If you want to know more about them, see this excellent article in the Wikipedia which makes it clear that they're not really bears but in a class of their own. Auckland Zoo has at least six that I could see, constantly climbing and moving about, except for one who went to sleep, zonked out flat along a tree trunk. :-)

A few years ago, one escaped from Wellington Zoo and climbed a tree across the road and was found when people reported a large, strange, red cat in the tree. That was the first I'd heard of them and they're among my favourite animals now.

Comments

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

They are incredibly cute, aren't they?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I told my cats that they have rivals. :-)

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Dare I say that I find the child far cuter than the panda? :)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Bah, children are a dime a dozen, and have no fur. I'll take the panda any day. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yeah, cuddly, furry, cute, don't need clothes or education, and they're endangered too, poor things.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You can dare, and I'll disagree. :-)

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely. Would definitely take one over a child any day:).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Me too! They're probably about Noki sized, at that.

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

I was just describing Noki's size and clawing strength to the friend who's supposed to care for Noki in March... and she was disbelieving:D. Hope Noki won't claw the concrete away from her walls!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Do you clip her claws? I do the girls' front ones only, but if you don't start with them as kittens, it's hard. Vic won't let me. You also have to be careful not to go near the live, coloured bit.

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

I know, but I never really do clip 'em. I'm looking forward to getting those claw guards they had on Queer Eye at some point. Those might save a heck of a load of hassle.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Can you buy them there? I know they have them in the US, in all sorts of wonderful bright colours, and cats don't seem to mind them. I've heard very good reports about them; it certainly beats declawing the poor things.

Our cats go outside though, so I couldn't use them; they need to be able to climb fences and trees if they're pursued.

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

AFAIK, you need to order 'em from the States. But I guess I could give my beloved Noki some...

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I have melted at the cuteness that is Red Panda Bear!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And understandably! I so want to play with one.

[shimere277.livejournal.com]

The red panda is adorable. But when your post scrolls by on my friends list, it, of course, pops up next to your icon...

So as I was reading about their "utter cuteness" and the "little tongue" what I was seeing was Avon and Vila popping their heads up like prairie dogs.

Perhaps we should put them at the zoo, next to the red pandas.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Haha, in the primates section! I could book an encounter to hand-feed them...

The key words I have on that icon are 'wild creatures' which is why I chose them for this post. :-)

[shimere277.livejournal.com]

"Here Avon, nice Avon, lick this ice cream cone..."

Now I need a cold shower.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

He'd probably take your hand off!

Speaking of which, I once wrote a story with them as alien pets (http://www.farsight.net.nz/fiction/pets.htm).

[shimere277.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've read it! I love that story - the little girl with Vila and the yuppies get Avon, right?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's the one! :-D

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

OMG.

*dies of cute*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You and me both. I'm hoping I can have an 'encounter' with them (they have different ones throughout the day). They're just so furry and adorable.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

That's really cute! Thanks for posting it. And also for the pointer to the Wikipedia article - I'd never known about the 'firefox' connection!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I didn't either. I'm going to have to check out the Mozilla store for plush red pandas now. :-)