Despite their name, red pandas are not closely related to the famous black-and-white giant pandas. Scientists eventually decided red pandas should sit in their very own little branch of the animal family tree, with no close cousins at all. They are completely unique.
A red panda spends most of its life up in the trees. Its sharp claws and special wrist bones let it grip branches like a monkey, and its long stripy tail helps it balance. In the rare moments it does come down to the ground, it walks like a small, fluffy bear cub.
Bamboo is their favourite food - and they need a lot of it, because bamboo doesn't have many nutrients. A red panda might eat 200,000 bamboo leaves in a single day! They also munch on berries, mushrooms and the occasional bird's egg. Their thick fur keeps them warm in the cool, misty forest, even when snow falls in winter.
Red pandas are quite shy and live alone most of the time. They wrap their bushy tails around themselves at night like a blanket. Sadly, there aren't many left in the wild, partly because their forests are being cut down. Northern Myanmar's forests are one of the most important places left where they can still live safely.