Today Flamingo Land Resort shared some exciting news regarding a new arrival to the Zoo.
On the morning of the 30th of June 2023, carnivore keepers at Flamingo Land discovered a newborn red panda cub. Born to 11 year old parents Tai Jang and Bai Jiao the, as yet unsexed cub, is the fourth successful birth of this endangered species at the zoo.
Park Executive Ross Snipp said, “All births are exciting, but even more so when a species is threatened in the wild. Our red panda pair has been at the zoo for 10 years and has proven to be very successful parents. Their other three cubs have left us to continue the breeding program at zoos in Sweden, the Netherlands and Wales, all coordinated by the European Ex-Situ Breeding Programme (EEP)”.
Red pandas are found throughout the Himalayan mountain range from Nepal to China. Sadly their wild population is still decreasing and they are threatened by habitat loss and hunting. When panda cubs are born they rely heavily on their mother and will not leave the nest box for a couple of months. During this time the keepers will keep disturbance to a minimum, however in the next two weeks our vet should be able to carry out a health check on the cub, check whether it is male or female and vaccinate it. Hopefully, guests will be able to spot the cub out and about towards the end of the summer.
