Photo of the Day #609: Red panda

Many people don't realize this, but red pandas are really a native to North America in the same way that equids, rhinos and camels are (the fossil record). Steven Wallace from ETSU has been doing a great job with the modern ones at Knoxville and fossil ones at Gray. See:
http://www.grayfossilmuseum.com/index.cgi?CONTEXT=art&art=5

Ah, the charming firefox, best viewed with... Oh crap. I'm using Google Chrome at the moment. Heh. Nevermind.

BTW, I was recently at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo and in spite of all their giant panda displays, the actual giant panda pen has been taken over by red pandas. (Sadly, the one they had died last year and from what I hear, negotiations with China to get a new one are a little tense.) I'm guessing that red pandas are taking over in terms of popularity, anyways. They're cuter and they move more.

Another animal on the rise in popularity is the capybara. I saw stuffed capybaras and red pandas in both the zoos I visited in Japan.