A baby Red Panda born on June 9 at the Sacramento Zoo is thriving under the constant care of his zoo keepers. 






Photo Credit:  Mike Owyang

 

The cub, a male, was the first offspring for the zoo's Red Panda pair. When the cub was about two and a half weeks old, the zoo staff observed that the female may not have been providing enough milk for her cub, so they decided to hand-rear the cub, as described here on ZooBorns.

The cub is a voracious eater, consuming about 20% of his body weight every day in four bottle feedings.  Keepers report that he is on track developmentally for his age, and practices his climbing skills on the veterinarians! 

Zoo guests can see the cub being fed twice a day through the window of the zoo's Veterinary Hospital.

Red Pandas are under threat in their native range in the mountains of Nepal and China due to habitat loss.  The name "panda" is derived from a Nepalese word meaning "bamboo eater."

See more photos of the Red Panda cub below the fold.