Pandas and Raccoons
If you were asked to name an animal that was almost unheard-of outside China until more than 50 years ago and is now world-famous what would be your answer? To give a few more clues, it is shaped like a bear, is white with black legs and has black rings around its eyes. It is, of course, the giant panda, now the symbol or the World Wildlife Fund. It was unknown, except to the Chinese, until 1869. Then a French missionary, Pere David. Bought a panda skin and sent it to France.
The giant panda
The giant panda has teeth like a flesh-eater except that the cheek-teeth have flattened surfaces. Yet it eats mainly bamboo shoots although it will sometimes catch fish, flipped out of the water with the paw, as well as rodents and small birds. It is called the ‘beishung’ by the Chinese, a name which means white bear.
Scientists are still not sure whether it is truly a bear or merely looks like one.
The name ‘panda’ was first given to an animal living in mountain forests of Nepal, southern China and Upper Burma. It is cat-like, nearly 120cm long, with a rich chestnut fur, black legs and underside and bushy tail. When the giant panda had been found this smaller animal became know as the lesser panda. It eats leaves and fruit. It is now called the Red Panda
Raccoons
Another famous member of the same family is the raccoon of North America. It is about 70cm long with a greyish-brown fur but its tail is ringed, and, like the lesser panda, it has black and white markings on its face. It eats mainly water animals such as fish, crayfish and shellfish. Its fingers are long and slender, and it is said to be able to untie knots. It is noted for washing its food, even if this is fish or frogs from water.
Not quite raccoons
Three other animals, all from the American continent, complete the family. All three live in trees and look like raccoons in build. One is the cacomistle or ringtailed cat. Like the raccoons it comes out at night. It feeds on small birds, rodents, insects and fruit. The second, the coati, or coatimundi, will walk with its ringed tail erect and curled over at the tip. The third, the kinkajou, is famous for using its tail like a monkey to hang from a branch. It will then climb up its own tail to get back onto the branch.
The common, or lesser panda, is also called the ‘cat bear’. Ranging from the eastern Himalayas to western China, it is more common than the giant panda.
The giant panda is one of the world’s rarest animals, found only in damp bamboo forests in parts of eastern Tibet and south-west China. Giant pandas live solitary lives, except in the mating season, unlike the common panda which lives in family groups.
The raccoon is a well-known North American relative of the pandas. The photo shows its sensitive paws it frequently uses to wash its food
The long-pointed nose of the coatimundi is in marked contrast to the short snout of the giant panda. The coatimundi lives mainly on insects and birds’ eggs.
The kinkajou lives high in the trees of the forests of Central and South America. About 1m in length, it has dense yellow-brown fur, and a long strong tail. It hunts at night.
Resources & Extra reading:
Giant panda | Panda family | Raccoon | Facts about raccoons | Pere David | Red panda | Coatimundi | Kinkajou
