There was an extra present delivered to Wellington Zoo on Christmas Eve in the shape of a newborn red panda cub.
However Zoo visitors will have to wait a little while to see the newest arrival, as the cub will spend its first three months mostly inside the nest box under the close protection of its 11 year-old mother Amy.
Keepers at the Zoo are currently keeping their distance from the parent and cub, limiting contact time to simple daily checks to allow them to bond. Amy’s breeding partner Ishah is also staying clear during this formative stage – which is natural behaviour for red pandas – meaning visitors will still be able to spot him around the enclosure.
“Breeding, for red pandas is a very precise art, so we are all really happy that Amy has been able to deliver another cub”, Paul Horton, Team Leader of the Carnivore Team at Wellington Zoo said.
“We’ve thought since late July that she may be pregnant, so there was there was understandable excitement on Christmas Eve when we found she had given birth in her nest box.
“Over the years it has become quite common for the Zoo to receive Christmas gifts in the form of red panda cubs. This is because these animals have a very exact breeding season of only one to two weeks each winter.
“We won’t know the panda’s sex for another couple of months yet, but if it turns out anything like its sibling Sir Ed we know we have some eventful times ahead of us! At the moment however we’re just trying to give mother and cub as much space as possible and letting nature take its course.”
Wellington Zoo has kept and successfully bred red pandas since 1996. The oldest pair of pandas currently in residence, Jay and Reka, has successfully parented four cubs at the Zoo over the years.
Wild red pandas are most commonly found in the temperate forests of the Himalayas, which stretch west from Nepal across into China. As they are highly secretive animals it is difficult to know exact population numbers, but they have recently been listed as vulnerable in the latest IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Wellington Zoo’s red pandas are proudly supported by Classic Hits Wellington.