12 May 2014
Today, Eskilstuna welcomed a new resident in the form of a sugar-sweet red panda named Pralin. Pralin, who turns one year old on June 10th, arrived from Kolmården this morning and is currently getting acquainted with her new home at her own pace before meeting the others. She sniffed around her new enclosure for a while before choosing a suitable tree to climb. At Parken Zoo, the soon-to-be 5-year-old male Zidan and the 7-year-old female Niña already reside.
Despite its name, the red panda, also called the lesser panda, is more closely related to the raccoon. In the wild, it lives in China, India, and Nepal, among other places, and is classified as vulnerable. Its numbers are decreasing, and it is protected in most of its range. Parken Zoo is participating in the European breeding programme for the red panda.