New arrival in 2015: red pandas !

2015 has been marked by the arrival of Li-Meï and Ibet, a couple of red pandas, a specie that benefits from an EEP (a European reproduction program). The male arrived from the Antwerp Zoo, in Belgium, on 17 March 2015, and the female left the Boubansais zoo on 23rd January 2015.

To receive a couple of red pandas is a great accomplishment and rewards the efforts made by the Parc Animalier d'Auvergne for, through the financial endowment La Passerelle, it supports the Red Panda Network which fights for the specie's conservation. As a matter of fact, the number of red pandas dropped of 40% these last 50 years, mainly because of the results of the deforestation: it destroys their food, their nesting aeras and isolates the populations. As a consequence, the specie is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN red list. A 10% decrease is predicted within the next 30 years, which reinforced the specie's protection in all the countries red pandas may be found.

Red pandas usually live in Central Asia, up to 4500 meters altitude !This tiny and adorable animal measures between 26 and 28 centimeters high, between 50 and 64 centimeters long, and it has a 28 to 50 centimeters tail. It weighs between 3 and 6 kilogramms and unfirtunately, red pandas are still too often chased for their fur.