The Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) is a mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. They live in temperate forests, spending most of their time in trees. The red panda has been classified as endangered by the IUCN, because its wild population is estimated at less than 10,000 mature individuals and continues to decline due to habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and inbreeding depression, although red pandas are protected by national laws in their range countries. The red panda is the only living species of the genus Ailurus and the family Ailuridae. It has been previously placed in the raccoon and bear families, but the results of phylogenetic analysis provide strong support for its taxonomic classification in its own family, Ailuridae, which is part of the superfamily Musteloidea (along with the weasel, raccoon and skunk families). Two subspecies are recognized, being the Himalayan red panda (A. f. fulgens) and the Chinese red panda (A. f. styani). It is not closely related to the giant panda, which is a basal ursid. However, both species have "panda thumbs", wristbones that act as thumbs to help them hold bamboo. Red pandas mainly feed on bamboo shoots and leaves, but they sometimes eat fruits, blossoms, insects, bird eggs, and lizards.
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