ATASCADERO, Calif. (AP) - A young red panda at a zoo on California’s Central Coast has been found dead.
The San Luis Obispo Tribune (https://bit.ly/1kq6WT6 ) reports that staffers at the Charles Paddock Zoo in Atasacadero thought the curled-up animal was sleeping when they arrived Saturday, but soon learned it had died in its sleep for unknown reasons. A necropsy will be performed to determine the cause.
The panda showed no signs of any wounds and the other three in the exhibit appear to be fine.
The panda was one of two born in June, the first offspring of an adult pair the zoo acquired after getting a gift to open the exhibit in 2011.
The red panda is a small tree-dwelling mammal native to Asia that is not related to the better-known giant panda.
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Information from: The Tribune, https://www.sanluisobispo.com
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