The cutest animal? Could be…
A small mammal, native to the Eastern Himalayas and Southwestern China, has been born at Altina Wildlife Park in New South Wales Australia.
Rani, Altina’s beautiful female red panda, at 9yrs of age, has proven to be an amazing and loving mother of her new little baby boy, born on the 17th December 2023!
It’s unusual for an older inexperienced Red Panda to naturally be a good mother, so staff are excited and pleased with the progress.
After three months gestation, cubs are born into a nest made of twigs and grass in the late spring and early summer. Newborn cubs are covered in thick grey fur and their eyes and ears are closed. Cubs will emerge from the nest at about three months of age but stay with their mother until the next breeding season starts.
They are considered full-grown between 18 and 24 months and live on average, 8 to 10 years in the wild; up to 15 years in zoos. Red Pandas may live as long as 23 years. They show symptoms of age at around 12 to 14 years old and while females do not usually breed after age 12, males continue to be reproductively capable well into their later years.
The newest little adorable ball of baby fluff spends most of his days sleeping and eating.
Rani’s appetite has changed to include more protein like insects and eggs and twice the amount of golden bamboo is being consumed to keep up with her milk production for her little man!
Altina grows all the golden bamboo the red pandas could eat on site which makes feeding the growing family of red panda so much easier!
Here’s some more adorable red panda footage: