The red pandas are mostly admired for their adorable kitten-like face and fluffy cinnamon-red tails. They look like a cross between the giant panda, raccoon and a cat but a bit bigger than a domestic cat with the body of 50-65 cm and long white whiskers. It has a big fuzzy reddish-brownish tail with white rings which are 30-50 cm long, and a white muzzle, lips, cheeks, ear edges and little white patches above the eyes with dark red lines also known as 'tear tracks' from the corner of the eye to the mouth. There is very dark red (almost black) fur on the red panda's limbs and underbelly. The different shades of red helps the red panda to camouflage against the red lichen on most of the trees on its habitat. Their beautiful thick fur helps the small creatures to survive the cold environment of the winter nights on the mountains.
Ailurus fulgens, (the scientific name for a red panda) actually literally means fire cat because of their 'fire-like' coat. Adult red panda males are slightly heavier than the females, being 2 to 6 kg in weight while adult females are 2 to 4 kg in weight. But the adorable cubs are just 110 to 130 g! That's tiny!