forms a striking object among the small Mammals. It is a really
beautiful creature, rich red chestnut in colour on the upper surface,
jet black as to the lower surface, the limbs also black, the snout
and the inside of the ears white, the tail bushy, reddish-brown in
colour, and indistinctly ringed. The fact of the under surface being
black while the upper is bright reddish-yellow is remarkable; with
most animals, when there is any difference in colour, it is the under
surface which is lighter. The body and head are about half a yard long,
the tail about a foot. The mode of progression is plantigrade, and the
large curved claws are half retractile. The main anatomical characters
are decidedly ursine, as also are the habits. Mr. Bartlett, who studied
the Panda that found a home for a time at the Zoo, states that, when
drinking, it sucked up the fluid like a Bear, instead of licking it up
as a Dog or Cat would do. When offended it would rush at Mr. Bartlett,
and strike at him with both feet, the body being raised like a Bear’s
and the claws projecting. It also, when angry, made a sharp spitting
noise; at other times it used a “weak, squeaking call-note.” On level
ground it ran in the same manner as the Weasel, Otter, and Kinkajou,
with a sort of jumping gallop, the back being kept much arched.
[Illustration: PANDA. (From the _Proceedings of the Zoological
Society_.)]
The Panda is found in the forests of the Eastern Himalayas, as well
as in Eastern Tibet. It is sometimes known as the Wah, or as the Red
Bear-Cat.
The only remaining member of this family has been discovered within
the last few years in the mountains of East Tibet, by the Abbé David,
and has been called by M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards Ailuropus. It is a
large animal, nearly white, and very Bear-like in external appearance,
although the structure of the skull and teeth shows clearly that its
nearest allies are the Panda and the Racoon.
THE WEASEL FAMILY.[162]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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