Nashville Zoo displaying red panda cub
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A red panda cub named Phayara is now available to be seen by the public at the Nashville Zoo.
The zoo’s carnivore supervisor, Karen Rice, told The Tennessean (http://tnne.ws/1pZGizc ) that Phayara (fie-ARE-a) was doing well in her first days in the exhibit.
Phayara was named by a public vote, which raised $1,050 toward conservation of the species via the Red Panda Network. Her name is short for the Nepali word for fire fox, “phayraphaska.”
Even as temperatures drop, the thick-furred red pandas will still be out and about on the zoo’s Bamboo Trail.
Red pandas are vulnerable to extinction and have high infant mortality rates. The Nashville Zoo’s two adult red pandas are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Program, which manages breeding.
