The name panda is believed to come from the Nepali word “ponya,” meaning “bamboo eater” or “bamboo footed.” Despite sharing a common name, giant pandas and red pandas are not closely related.
Red pandas are the only living members of their taxonomic family, Ailuridae, while ….
giant pandas are in the bear family, Ursidae.
Red panda:
The red panda is an elusive and mysterious mammal of the biodiverse Himalayan forests. They have also been called the “firefox”, “lesser panda”, and “red-cat-bear”— the red panda has many nicknames.
The red panda network “prefer “first panda” and “original panda” as western scientists described it 50 years before the giant panda, and gave pandas their name.”
Here’s an interesting collection – not that these animals are NOT related…..
- source: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/news/ ; https://redpandanetwork.org/red-panda-facts/save-the-red-panda/
