Animals Zoo

Red pandas

Red pandas exist in the shadow of giant pandas, but they were actually the first animals to be called “panda.” In the past, red pandas have been classified with the bear family (which includes giant pandas) and with procyonids (a family that includes raccoons). Today, they are classified as the sole species in family Ailuridae.

Red pandas are engaging, bamboo-eating animals that resemble raccoons and share parts of their Asian habitats with giant pandas. Although not “giant,” the red panda is an endangered species that also deserves scientific and conservation attention, as well as wider recognition among the public.

Red pandas have striking red coats and reddish-brown tear marks from the eyes to the corner of the mouth. They are especially vibrant during winter time: As their coats redden and thicken, they become easily visible on even the coldest January day.

At the Zoo

Two red pandas live on Asia Trail, near the giant pandas, giving us an opportunity to compare the original “panda” with giant pandas

fishing cats

Fishing cats are small cats native to south and southeast Asia. Their short, stout legs are built for swimming rather than running or climbing. Watch a video of fishing cats fishing.

Zoo scientists are studying their reproductive biology and zoo management in a cooperative program with some zoos in Thailand.

In another project, Zoo scientists are studying their ecology in suburban habitats in Sri Lanka.

asian small clawed otters

Facts

Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus and Species: Aonyx cinerea

These otters are the smallest of the world’s 13 otter species.

Home Range
Indonesia, southern China, southern India, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia

Habitat
Freshwater streams, rivers, and creeks as well as coastal regions, often near dense foliage

Diet
Webbed paws and great manual dexterity allow otters to grab a variety animals living near the water’s edge, including crabs, mussels, frogs, and snails.

Reproduction
After a gestation of about 60 days, females give birth to a litter of up to six pups, usually one or two.

Social Structure
These otters live in family groups of about 12 individuals.

Status
Although these otters are not listed as endangered, they are seriously threatened by rapid habitat destruction, hunting, and pollution. Scientists consider them an indicator species—their population indicates the general health of their habitat and the health of other species in their habitat.

sloth-bear

Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus and Species: Melursus ursinus

Disheveled in appearance, the sloth bear leads a reclusive life in India’s forests, noisily seeking out insects and fruits.

Physical Description: Sloth bears have shaggy, dusty-black coats, pale, short-haired muzzles, and long, curved claws that they use to excavate ants and termites. A cream-colored “V” or “Y” usually marks their chests. Sloth bears’ nostrils can close, protecting the animals from dust or insects when raiding termite nests or bee hives. A gap in their teeth enables them to suck up ants, termites, and other insects.

Size: Sloth bears grow five to six feet long, stand two to three feet high at the shoulder, and weigh from 120 (in lighter females) to 310 pounds (in heavy males).

Geographic Distribution: Most sloth bears live in India and Sri Lanka; others live in southern Nepal, and they have been reported in Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Status: The sloth bear is listed as vulnerable on the World Conservation Union’s Red List of Threatened Animals.

Habitat: Sloth bears live in a variety of dry and wet forests, and also in some grasslands, where boulders and scattered shrubs and trees provide shelter.

Natural Diet: When trees are in fruit, usually during the monsoon season, sloth bears dine on mango, fig, ebony, and other fruits, and also on some flowers. However, ants and termites, dug out of their cement-hard nest mounds, are a year-round staple. Also, sloth bears climb trees and knock down honeycombs, later collecting the sweet bounty on the forest floor. Beetles, grubs, ants, and other insects round out their diet. During food shortages, sloth bears will eat carrion. They sometimes raid farm crops.

Zoo Diet: The Zoo’s sloth bears eat insects, mealworms, and crickets, as well as such fruits as pears, melons, oranges, and grapes.

Reproduction: Sloth bears mate during the hot season—May, June, and July—and females usually give birth to two cubs six to seven months later. Cubs are born in an underground den, and stay there for several months. After emerging from the den, cubs stay at their mother’s side for two to three years before heading off on their own.

Lubber Grasshopper

These striking-looking grasshoppers are larger than those found in Missouri. Immature “lubbers” are typically black with yellow stripes or orange spots, whereas adults are a dull yellow with black markings. The bright colors of both immature and adult lubbers serve as a warning to predators that they are toxic.  These grasshoppers sometimes become numerous enough to cause damage to citrus and vegetable crops.

Hissing Cockroach

If you touch one of these cockroaches, it may hiss at you. It makes the sound by forcing air out through breathing tubes on the sides of its abdomen. The air moves rapidly over membranes near the tubes — much like a clarinet produces noise. The resulting 90-decibel blast is so loud it can be heard 12 feet away!

These cockroaches hiss loudly when they feel threatened. Males also sound off when fighting with other males, courting females, or mating. They hear each other’s hissing sound with the help of delicate cells by their legs.

Male and female hissing cockroaches are easy to tell apart. Males have a pair of humps on the thorax behind their head — perfect for use as “battering rams” during shoving matches. Females don’t have these humps, and their bodies are much larger than those of males.

There’s probably little chance you’ll find these large cockroaches in your home:  they live only on the island of Madagascar, off the eastern coast of Africa.

Flower Mantis

This mantid’s name comes from its habit of hiding between the petals of flowers while waiting for a meal to come to it. It is not a wilting wallflower, however. It will readily tackle dangerous prey much larger than itself, like wasps and hoverflies.

Java Rice Finch

Java Rice Finch

This beautiful finch – also known as the Java sparrow – lives throughout Indonesia and Southeast Asia. It is at home in a number of habitats, from forests to grasslands and cultivated fields. Rice farmers consider it a pest because of its fondness for feeding on rice crops. But the bird is popular in the international pet trade, no doubt because of its beautiful markings. Male and female Java rice finch look nearly identical, even down to their bright red beak.

Cabot’s Tragopan

Cabot’s Tragopan

These beautiful birds live in hilly evergreen forests of China, where they forage for leaves, fruit, seeds and insects.  Tragopans are facing threats from destruction of their forests by farmers and loggers.  They’re also hunted for food, for their bright plumage and for the pet trade.  Like their pheasant cousins, male tragopans are more richly colored than the plainer females.

During courtship, the male flashes his colorful wing linings and inflates the bright-colored wattles on his head and throat.

wonga-pigeon

Wonga pigeons travel far in their search for fallen berries, fruits and seeds on the forest floor.  Though they prefer walking over flying, the pigeons take to the air to build their nest high in the trees.  The male wonga pigeon has a unique mating display.  He raises his wings and tail rhythmically, swings his head from side to side, and tucks his head under each wing as he lifts it.