This is Li Yee and she lives at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent. As part of our commitment to wildlife Iffin House has adopted her and now contributes towards her well-being.

Although Red Pandas mainly eat fruit and leaves Li Yee loves to eat mice. She is very friendly and will pluck grapes from her keeper's mouth.

Li Yee was born at Bristol Zoo and is part of an international breeding programme. She is a very good climber and spends most of her time in the trees of her enclosure where she sleeps with her tail covering her face. Her name means beauty and grace in Chinese. On 16th June 2006 Li Yee became a mother, we do not know yet whether it is a boy or girl. Both Mother and cub are doing well.

The Red Panda is most active in the early morning and late afternoon spending most of the day resting in trees conserving their energy as their bamboo diet has a low energy content.

Red pandas are normally solitary creatures but form pairs in the breeding season.

Although classed as a carnivore, Red Pandas eat mainly bamboo shoots, grass and fruit with the occasional egg, insect or small animal.

After three months gestation up to three young are born into a nest made of twigs and grass. Newborn cubs are covered in thick grey fur and their eyes and ears are closed. The cubs will emerge from the nest at about three months of age but stay with their mother until the next breeding season starts.

In captivity Red Pandas can live up to 14 years but it is not known how long they live in the wild. They reach sexual maturity at around a year old.

Some interesting facts:

• The Chinese name for red panda is hunho or firefox, due to their colour and similar size to a fox.
• Like giant pandas, red pandas have an extra 'thumb' which is simply an enlarged bone.
• Claws are sharp and partly retractable.
• A red panda can consume up to 45 percent of its own body weight daily eating approximately 200,000 bamboo leaves daily.
• The origin of the name "panda" is the Nepalese word "nigalya ponya", which has the meaning of "eater of bamboo
• The red panda was first discovered in 1821, 48 years before the giant pandas were found in 1869.