Japan-Taiwan Friendship in Action: Japanese Red Panda "A-Chang" Makes Its Taipei Debut

By MOOK Scenic Spots Family Travel Life Network, reported and compiled by Chen Guanxin

 

The Taipei Zoo and Japan's Tama Zoological Park signed a friendship agreement in November 1994 (the 93rd year of the Republic of China), aiming to integrate cross-border resources and work together for wildlife conservation. Due to the extreme difficulty of introducing endangered species, after much effort, the famous red panda star "A-Chang" from Tama Zoological Park finally arrived in Taiwan this January. After successfully completing the quarantine period, it has now officially made its public debut in the Temperate Zone Animal Area.

The red panda "A-Chang," who came from Tama Zoo, immediately started exploring its new environment upon arrival—walking around, sniffing, marking territory, and climbing on perches. If visitors keep their noise level down, "A-Chang" may even approach the wire mesh for a closer look. Red pandas appear to have six fingers on their front paws: five arranged in a row, plus a sixth digit (also called a pseudo-thumb) formed from a specialized wrist bone. This sixth digit on the wrist enhances the red panda’s ability to grasp food, and when paired with typically carnivorous teeth, even tough bamboo can be bitten through—making it seem like a food processing machine tailor-made for bamboo plants. Both giant pandas and red pandas have evolved similarly shaped skulls, teeth, and front paws due to their bamboo-based diets, including nearly identical ways of grasping bamboo. This is a result of "convergent evolution."

 

Red pandas, which prefer to live in trees, are generally crepuscular, sleeping on tree branches during the day. Their strong and sharp claws help them climb trees with ease. Red pandas often “wipe their bottoms” at specific spots because the scent secreted from their anal glands serves as a territorial marker. They also reinforce their territory markings within their range using feces, urine, or scent glands on the soles of their feet. So next time you see a red panda wiping its bottom in a particular spot, you’ll know it’s marking its territory.

 

 

www.mook.com.tw/article.php?op=articleinfo&articleid=9823