Two too cute
These two look like trouble, but we are sure butter wouldn’t melt in their mouth. Bamboo leaves may be a different story, however.
These are Hamilton Zoo’s Nepalese red pandas, born earlier this year. Now four months old, they are out and about and exploring their enclosure. They are also both in need of names, and the zoo is about to launch a naming competition.
Zoo curator Samantha Kudeweh says they are fairly confident the two cubs are both females.
“If this is the case, it means we have a nice gender mix with our juveniles, as the new cubs have three male siblings Karma, Nima and Dawa who were born last year.”
So consider this a heads-up to put on your thinking caps and start pondering names for the zoo’s cute newbies.
Red Pandas are found throughout the Himalayan ranges, in Western China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and India. They live in the same habitat as the giant panda and almost exclusively eat bamboo leaves and occasionally fruit, small animals, eggs and roots.
Classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union of Conservation of Nature, their population in the wild is thought to be less than 10,000 and decreasing.
Hamilton Zoo is open every day, except Christmas Day from 9am-5pm. Visit here for more information.
Click here for story and pics of Gordonton vet Andrew Gore pregnancy testing rhino at the zoo awhile back.
