Zoo database

Red panda

Ailurus fulgens

Natural diet Red panda

Due to its jaw, teeth and feet, red pandas are technically carnivores. However, they have adapted to a highly specialized herbivorous bamboo diet. Their diet consists for 95% out of bamboo leaves and shoots. However, during the fall, opportunistically some fruits, roots, insects, bird eggs and grasses are consumed as well.

Bamboo
Bamboo
Grasses
Grasses

Feeding advice Red panda

Feed quantity per day

5-10%

Sample percentage calculation

If an animal weighs 5 kg and eats 10% of its body weight, it will get
 
5 x 0.1 = 0.5 kg feed in total per day

Feed composition

5% Concentrates
95% Grass, alfalfa, roughage

Proportions (fresh product)

0.05 x 0.5 kg = 25 g concentrates
0.95 x 0.5 kg = 475 g grass, alfalfa, roughage

Diet Suggestions

Recommended

Bamboo
Grass hay (if bamboo is unavailable)

In moderation

Leafy vegetables

Not recommended

Fruits

Common diseases

An unbalanced diet may result in one of these more commonly occurring diseases/conditions:

  • Obesity
  • Dental disease

Additional advice

  • Divide the “Feed quantity per day” over at least two feeding moments per day.
  • When bamboo is seasonal or not available, it can be replaced with grass hay.
  • Food intake is higher during the winter. During this period, feeding ad libitum is recommended.
  • Stimulate foraging behaviour by hiding, stacking or hanging their feed. Besides this, scatter feeding is also a good option (read more about feed enrichment and foraging behaviour).