Fota Wildlife Park Celebrates Birth of Two Endangered Red Panda Cubs

Fota Wildlife Park has announced the birth of two endangered red panda cubs, born on 14 June to mother Laxmi and father Grga. The public is now being invited to help name the pair ahead of International Red Panda Day this Saturday, 19 September.

The cubs, one male and one female, form part of Fota's participation in the Ex-situ Endangered Species Breeding Programme (EEP) for red pandas, a species classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Estimates put the number of mature red pandas remaining in the wild at between 2,500 and 10,000.

Laxmi came to Fota from Longleat Safari Park in England in July 2019, while Grga arrived from Zagreb Zoo in Croatia that same June. Both are now eight years old and form an established breeding pair at the Park.

Now just over three months old, the cubs have spent their early months developing in their nest boxes under close care from their mother. Rangers have recently observed them becoming more active and playful, venturing out to explore during the late evenings.

Lead Ranger John Leahy said:

"Although the cubs were born back in June, they have spent these early months sleeping, resting and feeding, with their mother Laxmi taking excellent care of them. At the moment, the cubs are not generally out during the day, but they have been venturing out at dusk when the Wildlife Park is closed. They are now over three months old, so we expect to see them becoming much more active during the daytime in the coming weeks. They may still be quite small, but they already look like fully formed little red pandas. It is fantastic to see them developing so well. Laxmi is a very experienced mother, has a very calm temperament which lends well to her having relaxed cubs. Grga, meanwhile, is no stranger to fatherhood. This is his fourth set of cubs at Fota Wildlife Park as part of the EEP. Grga is also a familiar favourite with Fota's rangers and will often come down from the trees to interact with the animal care team, especially for his favourite treat, grapes!"

Red pandas are native to the temperate forests of the Himalayas, with a range stretching from western Nepal through Bhutan and northern Myanmar into southern and central China. Despite the name, they are not closely related to giant pandas, sitting instead in their own distinct family and more closely related to raccoons and coatimundis. Although classified within the order Carnivora, their diet is overwhelmingly herbivorous, dominated by bamboo shoots. Fota grows its own bamboo on site, with Cork's mild climate providing good growing conditions for a significant share of the red pandas' feed.

The cubs join a run of recent births at Fota, including Asian lion cubs, Sumatran tiger cubs, a Nubian giraffe calf, an Indian rhino calf, two European bison, two Kafue lechwe calves and a white-tailed sea eagle chick.

The naming competition is open now in the Serengeti Shop at Fota Wildlife Park, with a suggestion box for name ideas and entrants in with a chance to win one of two Conservation annual passes. The competition closes on 11 October.