Red panda breeding success

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Photo Credit Murray Roberts, Wellington Zoo

Media release
January 30 2008

Red panda breeding success

The birth of red panda cubs at Wellington Zoo is a fantastic achievement, says Senior Keeper Paul Horton.

‘Red pandas are only in season one day a year so the window of opportunity for the females to get pregnant is small. But we are extremely happy to announce that Amy, our female red panda, gave birth just after Christmas.’

‘Red panda cubs are fairly fragile and one of Amy’s cubs was small and did not survive. The other is still going strong though; it is holed up with its mother in a nest box in the panda enclosure.’

‘The cub probably won’t be on display to our visitors for at least another month. We are doing everything we can to ensure the cub’s survival but we are remaining hands off. We are asking that our visitors to the Zoo be quiet around the red panda enclosure so we can give our first time mum and her baby some peace.’

‘Amy and her partner Isha are a new breeding pair, and it is very exciting that they have successfully bred after being together just under a year. We’ve had great success with breeding red pandas in the past so we hope this will continue with Amy and Isha.’

‘Wellington Zoo is part of an international breeding programme for red pandas, which saw three of our female pandas head to America last year,’ said Paul.

Little is known about red pandas as their natural habitat is in remote, mountainous parts of Asia. Red pandas are endangered and it is believed that only 2,500 remain in the wild.

Wellington Zoo’s red pandas are proudly supported by Classic Hits Wellington.

Note to editors:
There will be no opportunity to take photos or footage of the red panda cub until the cub is on display which will not be for at least a month. The other red pandas remain on display.

ENDS

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