Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens)

One might hope that the red panda lives by Polonius' advice, "This above all; to thine ownself be true: And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."

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When you get down to the nitty gritty, the red panda, which happens to be as cute as a button, stirs discord in large segments of the human population.

Wildlife biologists, for example, go back and forth trying to determine its family history. Is it more closely related to the bear (Ursidae) or raccoon (Procyonidae) family?

Geography, appearance, habitat and dietary habits served as the anchor for the early red panda as bear proponents. Both the giant panda (which is classified in the Ursidae family) and the red panda, live in a very limited geographical range in Central Asia. They are two of a very small population of bamboo eating animals. They also share the physical characteristic of a false thumb, which helps them hold the bamboo.

Appearance and habitat also anchor the red panda as raccoon claims. Members of the raccoon family share common physical characteristics such as short bodies, long tails and, in most instances, distinct facial markings (think of the raccoon's black mask). Like the red panda, many of the species exhibit arboreal and nocturnal behaviors, i.e., live in trees and become more active during the night.

Geography and diet are two problems confronting the raccoon proponents. Specifically, all other species in the Procyonidae family are new world species, that is they are only found in the Americas. Additionally, Procyonidae are omnivores, while the Red Panda diet consists almost exclusively of bamboo, although it does occasionally snack on fruit, insects, small rodents and other plants.

Since looks can be deceiving, wildlife biologists turned inside in their attempt to identify the true nature of the Red Panda. Early studies supported the red panda as raccoon proponents, when they showed genetic differences between giant pandas and red pandas that linked the giant pandas with bears and the red pandas with raccoons.

The dispute is still not totally settled. At most scientists agree that the red panda is a one of a kind animal, in a family of its own, with close ties to both bears and raccoons.

If red pandas could read and surf the internet, they would discover their tangential connection to other great debates of the day. Steven Gould, for example, wrote a seminal article called The Panda's Peculiar Thumb. He argued against a bestiary approach to evolution and concludes, "throughout nature almost every part of each living being has probably served, in a slightly modified condition, for diverse purposes, and has acted in the living machinery of many ancient and distinct specific forms".

Today, Gould's argument morphs into the religious and political arena in the form of evolution versus intelligent design (see The Panda's Thumb). If the Red Panda could not only read, but also discover the nobility inherent in all the world's great religions, it might hope that in the midst of all the debate, it could still remain true to itself and avoid the tragedy that befell the cast of Hamlet. The IUCN lists them as an endangered species.

© 2007. Patricia A. Michaels