Adorable red pandas zoo’s newest babies

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This article was published 03/09/2010 (5495 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They’re fussy eaters, they love to climb and they are gnawing on all their stepmother’s electrical cords.

Robyn and Steele, two red pandas, are the newest babies born at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

"When they started off they would fit in the palm of your hand, and they were a buff, almost a grey-white colour," said zookeeper Janice Martin, who has been playing mom to the little sisters. "They’ve grown quite a bit and they are learning to climb."

It’s already tricky to raise red pandas in captivity — there are 800 at zoos around the world but the mortality rate is 50 per cent. Robyn and Steele’s mother, Dash, already abandoned one baby after failing to form a maternal attachment and disruptive construction near the panda enclosure wasn’t going to help matters. So the zoo turned to Martin to hand-raise the cubs in her home.

She had to unplug every lamp in her house because the cubs love eating the electrical cords, and she put a tree in her living room for the sisters to practise on. "I’ve got bark all over the floor because they are not particularly good tree-climbers yet," said Martin. "As they slip off the tree, the bark comes with them."

Perhaps the hairiest time for Martin was when the cubs started to teethe and stopped eating or drinking. It would take up to two hours to feed them, which meant they were on a constant feeding cycle.

"I thought I was going to lose them at that point in time," said Martin.

Otherwise, the duo born in June seems to be developing just as they would if their mother were doing the raising. They opened their eyes at three weeks and started to emerge from their nest box when expected. Now, they both weigh three pounds and are starting to eat solid food.

There are only about 8,000 red pandas left in the wild, mostly in the Himalayas in Nepal, Burma and China, which is why Winnipeg’s zoo is part of an international conservation program. They are an endangered species due to poaching and habitat destruction. Known for their gentle but inquisitive nature, they look more like raccoons than the classic chubby black-and-white pandas.

Robyn and Steele aren’t on display for the public to see and likely won’t be. In the spring, when they are bigger and redder, they will be placed at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio and at the Prospect Park Zoo in New York City.