Red Panda Enrichment Program

For Hide and Seek, you bury fruits underneath the vegetation for the pandas to find. This games purpose is for the animal’s sense of smell.

• Info: Red Pandas are opportunistic feeders; they spend 10-12 hours a day foraging for food.

The rubber tyre will hang off a tree close to the ground and the branch for the panda to find food inside the tyre.

• Info: These Pandas are active 45%-49% of the time, in winter they have more frequent rest periods and they can be more than 2 hours in duration.

For this, there will be a small amount of banana (or any type of treat) placed in the middle of the log for the panda to find. The log must be big as Red Pandas don’t like enclosed spaces.

Info: Red Pandas always descend head first, gripping the trunk with their hind claws. Their tail is used for balance.

In their exhibit they might have rocks next to a small pool of water. The cracks in the rocks can be filled in with a squishy treat for the pandas to eat however they want.(e.g They could claw the food until it comes out or lick it ect.)

• Info: Bamboo leaves and shoots compromise 95% of the Red Pandas diet. Unlike the typical carnivore diet, bamboo is low in protein and fat but high in fiber.

For this activity you decorate a cardboard box with all kinds of funny patterns and pictures and put foods inside. This activity is for fun.

• Info: The Red panda must consume up to 30% of its body weight each day, only 24% of the material eaten is digested.

For this there will be a ramp placed at the bottom of a tall rock or tree and at the top will be a treat for the panda after it has climbed it.

• Info: In a Red Panda exhibit there should be: grasses, wood, rocks, mulch, logs, branches, ropes, vines, pools, trees for climbing and perching, plenty of shade, hiding areas, distance and visual barriers from the public and outdoor enclosures.

For this activity there will be holes in a bottle that is filled with fruity treats so the panda has to get his/her paw and grab the fruit. The holes will need to be quite big so they can get their paws in the holes and not get them stuck!

• Info: There should be minimally 200-300g fresh bamboo daily for each panda. The preferred species of bamboo are Pseudosasa and Phyllostachys.

This activity has berries attached to the vine so they panda can reach up to some berries or at the top of the branch, the panda can grab the fruit.

• Info: "Red Pandas have acute olfactory senses, enrichment designed to stimulate these senses and encourage foraging should be well-received and stimulate species-appropriate behaviours."

This activity has a rubber tyre with a net of food attached to the top of it. Attached to the bottom of the tyre will be a ramp connected to the ground for the pandas to climb and eat the food.

Info: An Adult female diet

Foot Item Grams a day % In Diet

Mazuri Leafeater 5MO2 Biscuit 300 43.10

Banana – Peeled 55 7.90

Vionate Supplement 1 0.14

Bamboo 340 48.85

This is an activity for the pandas to dig the crasins out of the door mat.

• Info: A young female diet

Foot Item Grams a day % In Diet

Apple – Every Day 87 9.94

Mazuri Leafeater 5MO2 Biscuit 288 32.97

Bamboo 275 31.48

Grapes – Every Day 67 7.65

Papaya – 4x/wk 28 3.24

Pear – 3x/wk 21 2.43

Frozen Blueberries – 4x/wk 12 2.43

Cantaloupe – 4x/wk 28 3.24

Banana – 5x/wk 35 4.05

Kale – 2x/wk 6 0.74

Endive – 1x/wk 3 0.37

Romaine – 1x/wk 3 0.37

Spinach – 1x/wk 3 0.37

Collards – 1x/wk 3 0.37

Red Leaf Lettuce – 1x/wk 3 0.37

For this activity you need a rope. You attach the middle of the rope to a branch and put food on the 2 ends. When one panda comes to reach for the food it will lift the other side up.

• Info: A young male diet

Foot Item Grams a day % In Diet

Apple – Every Day 80 11.02

Mazuri Leafeater 5MO2 Biscuit 220 30.47

Bamboo 275 38.09

Grapes – Every Day 53 7.37

Papaya – 4x/wk 15 2.02

Pear – 3x/wk 11 1.51

Frozen Blueberries – 4x/wk 11 1.51

Cantaloupe – 4x/wk 15 2.02

Banana – 5x/wk 18 2.52

Kale – 2x/wk 7 0.99

Endive – 1x/wk 4 0.49

Romaine – 1x/wk 4 0.49

Spinach – 1x/wk 4 0.49

Collards – 1x/wk 4 0.49

Red Leaf Lettuce – 1x/wk 4 0.49

Red Panda Enrichment Program

Sites Used:

• www.aza.org/.../Red%20Panda%20Care%20Manual%202012.pdf‎
• San Diego Zoo - Red Pandas
• Taronga Zoo - Red Pandas

Bibliography

Wooden Tree Post

Vine Feeder

Tepee

For this activity there will be a wooden post planted in the ground with 2 wooden planks on top of it in a cross section (+). On the end of these wooden planks there will be fruit for the pandas to eat!

• Info: Alternative fibre source: High fibre biscuits or beet pulp and other edible grasses, In addition to foraging opportunities, at least 2 supplemental feedings a day.

For this there will be a tepee with a platform halfway up for the pandas to reach the treat hanging from the top. There will be ladders on one side for them to get up.

• Info: They must eat large quantities, 1.5 kg of fresh leaves or 4kg fresh shoots daily. They usually drink once a day but more water is eliminated in the faces than food brings in.

Kong

The Kong is a toy for animals that you stuff with treats. They animals then have to try different ways to get the treats out.

• Info: Animal food, especially seafood products, should be purchased form reliable sources that are sustainable and/or well managed.

Day 5

Day 4

Food Net

Scales

Food in a Bottle

For this activity there will be a net with food in it and the pandas will have to try several ways to get it out.

• Info: All Red Panda diets should contain bamboo and a dry biscuit with very little fruit. The formulation, preparation and delivery of all diets must be of a quality and quantity suitable to meet the animals psychological and behavioural needs.

Tyre Obstacle

Ramp Climb

Frozen Fruit

For this you freeze orange juice with bits and pieces of normal fruit. The pandas then lick off all the orange juice to get the fruit inside.

• Info: In captivity food is grasped with a single forepaw and brought to the mouth while sitting, standing or occasionally lying on back.

Day 7

Day 6

For this, you will need several bamboo sticks with air holes in them all lined up hanging from a branch. When the wind comes it will create an unusual sound. At the bottom of the wind chimes there will be a treat stuck to the end so the pandas can reach up and grab it.

• Info: An adult male Red Panda diet:

Foot Item Grams a day % In Diet

Marion Leafeater Biscuit 225 33.58

Banana – Peeled 104 15.52

Vionate Supplement 1 0.15

Bamboo 340 50.75

Wind Chimes

Crasin Puzzle

Rock Challenge

Presents in a Box

Day 2

Log Crawl

Hide and Seek

Day 3

Walk the Plank

Hanging Tyre

This activity is designed to help the panda with balance. You put a wooden plank over water and place grapes along it. The panda must walk across the plank to get to the food.

• Info: "Environmental enrichment, also called behavioural enrichment, refers to the practice of providing a variety of stimuli to the animal’s environment, or changing the environment itself to increase physical activity, stimulate cognition and promote natural behaviours".

Bamboo Chew

For this activity there will be bamboo shoots placed around the exhibit with small amounts of fruit placed inside so the panda has to chew through the bamboo to get the fruit.

• Info: Recommended Red Panda food diet:

Food Type % in diet

Bamboo 65%-75%

Nutritionally Complete Leaf eater Biscuit 23%-33%

Produce 2%

Tree Top Treasure Hunt

Fruit Hanging off Trees

This activity will have various fruits scattered around the tree tops in the exhibit so the panda has to climb up and down to find the treasure.

• Info: These Red Pandas are excellent and agile climbers, they spend most of their time in trees.

By Freya Overton

For this activity the panda will need to reach 30cm or 50cm (Depending on how big they are) to grab the fruit hanging off the end of a vine. (E.g Apple, Grapes)

• Info: It is important that enrichment items are not merely thrown into the exhibit and allowed to stay for extended periods – an enrichment program is only successful and useful if actively managed and constantly reviewed.

Day 1