Cuddly Red Panda twins born at Fota Wildlife Park need names!
By Kim O'Leary
Fota Wildlife Park is enjoying a a baby boom this year with the latest additions being two rare Red Panda cubs, and the public is being invited to name the adorable twins.
The twin Red Panda cubs were born to mother Bonnie, aged 6 and father Pete aged 8. The male cubs, born on 27 June, and they have only just started to venture out of their nesting box.
The Red Panda is an endangered species and as there are less than 2,500 individuals left in the wild the successful arrival of the twin cubs is an important link in Fota Wildlife Park’s participation in the international breeding programme.
The twin Red Panda cubs join a succession of births this summer at Fota Wildlife Park including four cheetah cubs, Dharma a female Sumatran tiger cub and just last month, three Asian lion cubs.
Lead Ranger Kelly Lambe said: “The twins have basically spent the last two and a half months eating and sleeping with their mother and are now at an age where they have just taken their first steps outside of the nesting box to see what Mum gets up to when she’s out feeding. They are still quite shy and are only out for brief periods during the day however, they have started to learn how to climb trees under the watchful eye of their mother Bonnie. "
She added:"We have had great success here at Fota in breeding Red Pandas. The twin’s older sister Dearg was moved to Agrate Zoo Park in Northern Italy last year to take part in the breeding programme there and help grow the numbers of this endangered species.”
The five-strong Red Panda family, which includes 14-month-old brother Meeko, will move to a specially designed habitat in the Asian Sanctuary once the cubs are older. The Asian Sanctuary also features Sumatran tigers, Asian lions and Indian rhino.
Fota Wildlife Park is calling on the public to name the cubs by entering the suggestions on the blog page - www.fotawildlife.ie/blog.
The winning names will be chosen out of the best suggestions by the Rangers next month and the winners will each receive a yearlong Conservation Membership.