Ruaridh, a young male red panda has joined the Lille zoological park, where he was put in contact with Mambo, the female of the zoo, so that they can reproduce within a year, the zoo announced on Tuesday.
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Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, one-and-a-half-year-old Ruaridh (pronounced Roo-ray) was given some adjustment time in a separate enclosure upon arriving in Lille in December, before being able to meet Mambo, alone for a year. .
“
Their meeting took place in a completely natural way,
” explains Stanislas Dendievel, deputy mayor of Lille delegate for Nature.
Ruaridh succeeds Pong, a male red panda who died last February at the age of 17.
This is the second time that the park has tried to reunite a pair of red panda but it has not yet resulted in any births.
If Ruaridh is not yet mature, the zoo hopes for a birth within a year.
Ruaridh and Mambo have been brought together within the framework of the European breeding program (EEP), the aim of which is "to
maintain genetically diverse and viable populations
", explains Stanislas Dendievel.
Threatened by the destruction of its natural environment in the foothills of the Himalayas and by poaching, the red panda is a protected species, classified as "
vulnerable
»On the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
There are less than 10,000 individuals left in the wild, according to the zoo.
The first visitors to be able to admire Ruaridh will be schoolchildren from Lille.
Closed due to a health crisis, the Lille zoo will organize educational visits with schools from March 2021.
"
Ruaridh is there to transmit a message for future generations
", explains Stanislas Dendievel.
