The Cutest Animal in the World is at the Houston Zoo

Announcing - the winner of the Cutest Animal in the World Photo Contest

Houston “gets cute” on March 28, 2009 when The World’s Cutest Animal made his long awaited debut at the Houston Zoo.  He’s Toby, the red panda. Toby’s new indoor home near the Houston Zoo’s award-winning Natural Encounters Building includes natural log climbing features, natural substrate floor, a small pool and a water fall, skylights and air conditioning.  

Over the years, the red panda has undergone an identity crisis of sorts, existing in the shadow of the better known giant panda. Red pandas are exquisite and fascinating mammals with their own unique set of behaviors and characteristics.  Best known for their striking red coats and white to reddish-brown facial mask, red pandas are superb climbers.  When not searching for food on the ground, red pandas will spend most of their time in the trees. 

 
Red pandas live only in temperate forests in the Himalayan foothills from western Nepal through northern Burma (Myanmar) and in the mountains of southwestern China at altitudes between 5,000 and 13,000 feet. Temperatures remain fairly cool and constant in their native habitat, supporting the mix of forests trees and bamboo on which red pandas depend. Red pandas live solitary lives, only coming together to reproduce during the very brief breeding season.

The red panda’s diet is very unusual among mammals. Only the red panda, giant panda, two types of rodents, and one species of lemur from Madagascar can survive on a strict bamboo diet. The red panda’s adaptation to a bamboo diet has helped shape their behavior, spending up to half the day in search of tender new bamboo leaves.