Red pandas can be easily identified by their unique ruddy coat color, which acts like camouflage within the canopy of fir trees where branches are covered with clumps of reddish-brown moss and white lichens.

They have large, round heads and short snouts with big, pointed ears. Their faces are white with reddish-brown “tear” marks that extend from the eyes to the corner of the mouth. These markings could have evolved to help keep the sun out of their eyes. Their tails are marked with alternating red and buff rings.

Red pandas have a soft, dense woolly undercoat covered by long, coarse guard hairs. Long, bushy tails help these arboreal animals maintain balance and protect them from harsh cold and winds. Dense fur completely covers their feet which have five, widely separated toes and semi-retractable claws.

Red pandas scent-mark territories using anal glands and urine, as well as scent glands located between their footpads. These scent glands on the bottom of red pandas’ feet exude a colorless liquid that is odorless to humans. The red panda tests odors using the underside of its tongue, which has a cone-like structure for collecting liquid and bringing it close to a gland inside its mouth. It is the only carnivore with this adaptation.

Red pandas are skilled climbers, using trees for shelter, to escape predators and to sunbathe in the winter. Their ankles are extremely flexible, and the fibula and tibia are attached in such a way as to allow the fibula to rotate about its axis. These features make it possible for red pandas to adeptly climb headfirst down tree trunks.

In contrast with other carnivores their size, red pandas have extremely robust dentition. They also have a simple carnivore stomach, despite their predominantly leaf-based diet. Red pandas share the giant panda’s pseudo-thumb, a modified wrist bone used to grasp bamboo when feeding.

Red pandas are the only living member of the Ailuridae family, and their taxonomic position has long been a subject of scientific debate. They were first described as members of the raccoon family (Procyonidae)—a controversial classification—in 1825, because of ecological characteristics and morphological similarities of the head, dentition and ringed tail. Later, due to some agreements in DNA, they were assigned to the bear family (Ursidae).

Most recent genetic research, however, places red pandas in their own, independent family: Ailuridae. Molecular phylogenetic studies show that red pandas are an ancient species in the order Carnivora (superfamily Musteloidea) and are probably most closely related to the group that includes weasels, raccoons and skunks.

There are two recognized subspecies of red pandas within the Ailuridae family: Ailurus fulgens fulgens and Ailurus fulgens styani (also known as Ailurus fulgens refulgens). The styani subspecies tends to be larger and deeper red in color than the fulgens subspecies.