How Are Red Pandas & Giant Pandas the Same?

Similarities

• 1

  Type of animal and order. Both red and giant pandas are mammals. They are also of the order Carnivora, which are placental mammals.

• 2

  Diet. Although the red panda is a herbivore and the giant panda an omnivore, both live primarily on a diet of bamboo. They also eat other vegetation and fruit. Although the red panda is a herbivore, it will also eat birds occasionally. The giant panda also eats birds, as well as rodents.

• 3

  False thumb. Both panda species have an elongated wrist bone. It acts as an extra thumb and helps them grip small things, such as bamboo shoots.

• 4

  Habitat. Giant pandas are found only in the mountainous regions of central China. The red panda also inhabits this area, but can also be found in the mountains of Nepal and northern Myanmar.

• 5

  Social behavior. The red and giant pandas live solitary lives and stay active by climbing trees. They are seen in pairs only when a male and female meet up to mate.

• 6

  Marking territory. Both types of pandas are territorial. They mark their territory by rubbing their scent on objects such as stones and trees. The scent comes from glandular sacs in their anal area.

• 7

  Endangerment. Since the 1990s, pandas have been designated as endangered and placed on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The giant panda was listed in 1990 and the red panda in 1996. Both been endangered because of the loss of bamboo habitat and are also threatened by habitat fragmentation and poaching.