When they wake up, red pandas groom themselves like cats, according to the San Diego Zoo. Their metabolic rate gets lower and increases only every few hours to wake them up so they can look for food, according to the National Zoo. When temperatures drop significantly, red pandas can become dormant. It can get a bit chilly at night where the red pandas live, so to keep warm, they wrap themselves in their fluffy tails, according to National Geographic. They also like to lie on branches to sunbathe as they sleep. These creatures spend most of their time in trees, eating and sleeping without the need to step foot on soil. If that doesn't work, they stand on their back feet and strike out with the claws on their front feet, according to the San Diego Zoo. Like skunks, red pandas can unleash the smell when they are scared to fend off a predator. They are solitary creatures males are territorial and will mark their territory with strong odor from the scent gland at the base of their tail. Red pandas are primarily crepuscular - active at dawn or dusk - but they can be active any time of the day, according to the National Zoo. One study found that female red pandas eat about 20,000 bamboo leaves a single day, according to the San Diego Zoo. (1 to 2 kg) of bamboo shoots and leaves per day. They need to consume 20 to 30 percent of their body weight, or about 2 to 4 lbs. While it is a big part of their diet, red pandas can digest only about 24 percent of the bamboo they eat. Sometimes, they will eat eggs, insects, birds and small mammals as well, but they mostly stick to bamboo. They may also forage for roots, grasses and fallen fruits. Red pandas eat bamboo shoots and bamboo leaf tips, stripping them off the stems with their mouths. Bamboo consists of 85 to 95 percent of their diet, according to the National Zoo. The forest must have a bamboo understory for it to be viable for the red panda. One important factor to their habitat is bamboo. Red pandas live in the mountains of Nepal, central China and northern Myanmar in rainy, high-altitude temperate forests and tropical forests, according to the National Zoo. One feature that red pandas do share with giant pandas is a modified wrist bone that acts like a thumb, helping them grasp bamboo when feeding, according to the National Zoo. Long, sharp claws help them climb to the highest branches to sunbathe or escape from predators, according to the San Diego Zoo. The tail helps them maintain their balance as they climb trees. They have long, bushy tails with alternating red and white rings. These markings may help keep the sun out of their eyes, according to the National Zoo. Their coats are reddish-brown, although their faces are mostly white with reddish 'tear tracks' extending from their eyes to the corner of their mouths. Red pandas have large round heads and short snouts with large, pointed ears.
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