RED PANDA NETWORK
A project of Wildlife Survival Fund: Investing in endangered species before it’s too late.
Mechi Zone, Taplejung District, Nepal
IUCN Red List Status of Focal Species
About the Project
The Panchthar-Ilam-Taplejung (PIT) corridor supports nearly 25% of the total red panda population in Nepal. The PIT corridor has been listed in the World Wildlife Fund’s Global 200 list and Conservation International considers this region a Himalayan ecological hotspot. Red Panda Network (RPN) has been working for seven years in this region for the conservation of this flagship species. The red pandas that inhabit the Himalayan broadleaf and conifer ecoregion are facing a number of threats including forest fire; rotational grazing; slash and burn cultivation; timber and fire wood collection; predation by dogs and other predators; natural die-off of ringal bamboo species; drought; landslides; and lack of awareness among local communities. These threats can be minimized by community-based initiatives that focus on awareness-building, alternative income generation and sustainable forest management. The goal is for these efforts to lead to a viable and healthy population of red panda in the PIT Corridor. RPN aims to assess the status of red panda distribution within 40% of their potential range in Nepal by the end of the 2015 year.
Red Pandas at Woodland Park Zoo
Look in the treetops in the Wildlife Survival Zone to spot Woodland Park Zoo’s red pandas. Here, the red pandas are neighbors to cheetahs and cranes. What do these diverse species from different parts of the world have in common? Their stories shine a spotlight on the conservation work that takes place in the wild and at the zoo—through breeding, research and education—to save species and their habitats.
To learn more:
Read the Red panda fact sheet