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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Sean Murphy

Scots Zoo shows off images of incredibly cute new resident red panda Rufio

A top Scottish zoo has shared some adorable photos of their soon-to-be newest resident.

The Five Sisters Zoo (FSZ) recently announced that it is set to welcome a new red panda to the fold.

The sanctuary in West Calder, near Livingston, posted about the impending new arrival on social media, revealing some incredibly cute pics of the animal, who is named Rufio (after the Lost Boy of the same name in the film Hook) and will be arriving at the zoo in around 2-3 weeks time.

The little male is being sourced from South Lakes safari zoo and is due to travel north when his new enclosure has been completed by the FSZ staff.

The mischievous little panda is sure to be a big hit with zoo guests (FSZ)

With gathering pace on the zoo's new Red Panda enclosure, the team say that they hope it will be "one of the best Red Panda exhibits in the UK".

They added: "We have created an exhibit where visitors can view from both sides, with many existing mature trees and rope walk bridges for Rufio to climb and walk on, we are planting over 100 large Bamboo plants under the mature trees which will mimic the natural surroundings.

"We have created our red panda habitat in a way that mimics the steep forested slopes they are found living on in Asia."

About the same size as a small dog, with distinctive red and white fur and a large bushy tail, red pandas are predominantly tree-dwellers.

Native to southern Asia, according to the WWF, the name panda is said to come from the Nepali word ‘ponya,’ which means bamboo eating animal.

Owner Brian Curran said: "After a horrendous 2020 it is great that we can share some good news about the arrival of Rufio from Cumbria zoo.

"We consider ourselves so lucky that Cumbria zoo are so kindly donating Rufio to Five Sisters Zoo as Red Pandas are one of the species of animal we have always wanted since becoming a zoo in 2005 and we are creating a wonderful enclosure for Rufio and hopefully in the future we will source a mate for him."

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