It's a boy! OKC Zoo announces birth of red panda cub
The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is welcoming its newest addition.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is welcoming its newest addition.
According to the OKC Zoo, weighing in at a whopping 1/4 of a pound, a healthy male red panda cub was born on Thursday, July 20, in the Zoo's red panda habitat in Sanctuary Asia.
The Zoo says that first time mom, Khyana, 4, is showing proper maternal behaviors like grooming and nursing. Both mom and baby are doing just fine.
“We are so excited to welcome this new addition to the Zoo’s animal family and are beyond thrilled that Khyana is such a nurturing mother,” said Tyler Boyd, OKC Zoo’s curator of carnivores. “While we don’t yet know when the cub will be on public view, mom and her offspring are doing well and bonding behind-the-scenes at their habitat.”
The baby's father, Benjamin, 8, came to the OKC Zoo from the Cape May County Park & Zoo in 2021 and Khyana was born at the Zoo's Sanctuary Asia habitat in 2019. The two were paired as part of a Species Survival Plan (SSP) recommendation, according to officials.
The OKC Zoo says the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is an endangered species from the forests bordering Bhutan, China, Nepal, Myanmar and Nepal. Even though "panda" is in the name, red pandas are not related to giant pandas. As a matter of fact, red pandas were documented 50 years before the giant panda in 1825.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified red pandas as endangered as their population in the wild is decreasing due to loss of habitat from deforestation. Officials say it is predicted that less than 10,000 remain in the wild.
For more information, visit okczoo.org.