International Red Panda Day
Next: September 18, 2027
The original panda.
The story
Where it comes from
International Red Panda Day has been held on the third Saturday of September since 2010, when the Red Panda Network, a conservation charity working in Nepal, began it to raise awareness of a species most people had never heard of. The red panda lives in the temperate forests of the eastern Himalayas and south-west China and is endangered by habitat loss and poaching.
How it's celebrated
Zoos worldwide hold red-panda talks and fundraisers; schools take part in the network's 'Red Panda Ranger' programme; the Nepalese community forests where the animal lives host local events.
Did you know
- The red panda was named 'panda' first, in 1825; the giant panda got the name about forty years later, and the two are not closely related.
- Red pandas have a 'false thumb', an extended wrist bone, for gripping bamboo, a trait they share with giant pandas by convergent evolution.
- Fewer than 10,000 are thought to survive in the wild.
Coming up next
- International Talk Like a Pirate Day · September 19, 2027
- World Cleanup Day · September 20, 2027
- International Day of Peace · September 21, 2027
- World Alzheimer's Day · September 21, 2027
- World Rhino Day · September 22, 2027
- World Car-Free Day · September 22, 2027