Re-wilding red pandas: Darjeeling zoo attempts country’s first augmentation of endangered mammal in the wild

  • July 10, 2022
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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Re-wilding red pandas: Darjeeling zoo attempts country’s first augmentation of endangered mammal in the wild

Subject: Geography

  • The Singalila National Park, the highest protected area in West Bengal, will soon get new denizensI
  • In the first re-wilding programme of red pandas (Ailurus fulgens) in India, the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park has started an ambitious programme to release 20 of these furry mammals in about five years to the forests.
  • The number of red pandas has been declining in the wild, even in the Singalila and Neora Valley National Parksboth situated in West Bengal

About Red Panda

  • Categorised as an endangered species as per IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, red pandas are shy, solitary and arboreal animals and considered an indicator species for ecological change.
  • India is home to both the (sub) species — Himalayan red panda (Ailurus fulgens) and the Chinese red panda (Ailurus styani) and the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh splits the two phylogenetic species.
Geography Re-wilding red pandas: Darjeeling zoo attempts