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It has the face of a giant panda bear and the body of a small raccoon. This unusual, cuddly-looking animal is the red panda, and until recently, was only believed to be native to the mountains of Nepal, Burma and China. Now, according to recent fossil findings, it appears the enigmatic red cousin to the black-and-white panda once roamed the long-ago forests of Tennessee. Red pandas currently live in various zoos around America, captivating the public and causing children to beg their parents to buy them one as a household pet. And if you happen to visit the Washington County...

Another day, another botnet. This time, it has the rather pretty name of Mariposa - it means butterfly - and is believed to be one of the world's largest. More than 13 million PCs were infected by Mariposa, which apparently infected more than half the world's 1,000 largest companies and at least 40 major financial institutions. The botnet was , and three men have been arrested. According to Panda Security, the three men used the aliases Netkairo, Ostiator and Johnyloleante. "Designed for information theft, Mariposa has stolen personal data from millions of compromised computers," says Defence Intelligence. "Amongst this personal...

BEIJING (Reuters) – Hunger drove a wild panda to break into a Chinese farmer's pig pen and eat their food, which was meat and bone, rather than bamboo. State-run China Central Television said the giant panda had apparently descended from the mountains in a region of southwest China's Sichuan province and was spotted in a field before the animal was found inside the pig pen, chewing on bones and spitting out the meat. After eating its fill, the panda quietly left.

American feminists have been attempting to rid the world of male chauvinists for decades. In this they have largely failed, given that men still exist, although they have had considerable success in neutering many male victims. These results are not quite good enough, however, which has led dissatisfied feminists to cross the species barrier for answers in the quest to eliminate all things masculine. The object of their estro-wrath? Our good friends, the pandas.First frozen semen test tube pandas are bornAwwwwwwYes, ladies and knuckle-draggers, the pandemists are real, and thanks to their dedication the male has been made largely irrelevant...

Two panda cubs abandoned at birth by their mother have been adopted by an unlikely wet nurse – a mongrel dog.

Red panda has rare set of triplets Babies born at Fargo, N.D. zoo are two females and one male Red panda mom Shan Tou curls up with her triplet babies at the Red River Zoo in Fargo, N.D. [Pic in URL] Carrie Snyder / AP FARGO, N.D. - The Red River Zoo in North Dakota has welcomed a rare new set of red panda triplets. The new babies are two females and one male. They were born June 11 at the zoo in Fargo. Zoo executive director Paula Grimestad said triplets are rare for red pandas and are especially welcome...

Kolkata: A female red panda from New Zealand will soon join the red pandas at the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park in Darjeeling district to balance the male-female ratio there. Permission from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has come to bring it from the Auckland Zoo. In return, a male will be sent under an exchange programme. “We are awaiting the animal quarantine certificate from the CZA, after which we can exchange the animals as per international red panda breeding programme rules,” A.K. Jha, Zoo Director, told The Hindu from Darjeeling on Thursday. The male-female ratio there now is 11:3....

A giant panda at Beijing Zoo mauled an intruder who climbed into its enclosure, state media said Thursday. The 110-kg panda, Gugu, bit the legs of the man who climbed into its pen to retrieve a toy dropped by his young son Wednesday, the Beijing Morning Post said. The animal's attack on Zhang, a tourist from the eastern province of Anhui, was its third reported in the last three years. In 2007, a 15-year-old boy suffered serious leg injuries after Gugu mauled him when he scaled a fence in a attempt to cuddle the panda. Gugu also bit and seriously...

A domestic cat living in Amsterdam's Artis zoo has adopted a baby red panda and is suckling it together with her four kittens. The panda came from a nest of two, both of whom were rejected by their mother, Gladys, and is doing well. The other did not survive. Initially, Gladys appeared to accept her offspring, but one day after their birth on 30 June, zoo workers found both deserted in a flowerbed. A zoo representative says that this is the first time a domestic cat has been known to take over the nursing of a baby panda. The red...

A FOREST police team rescued 40 wild giant pandas in Wolong National Nature Reserve in earthquake-hit Sichuan Province at 11am today, Xinhua news agency reported. The Wolong reserve is a large reserve area for the giant panda, an animal considered a national treasure because it is unique to China. China yesterday said 86 giant pandas at the China Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, which is near the earthquake's epicenter in Sichuan's Wenchuan County, are safe. All panda cubs had been transported to safety, the Wolong center reported to the State Forestry Administration by satellite telephone after being out...

Friday, December 21 The topic for today’s update is poop. This idea came to me a few days ago when I watched Mei Lan stand on her head and produce a very adult-looking giant panda poop. The standing on her head part isn’t necessary to do this; that’s just a sign that she’s still a playful kid. However, part of growing up means eating an adult’s diet and having adult feces (a.k.a. poop). Mei Lan started producing feces similar to that of adult pandas when she started eating bamboo. Her feces are still distinguishable from her mother’s, partly because of...

(Beijing)--Panda couture took China Fashion Week by storm with models sporting black and white negligées and fluffy ears, but censors failed to see its funny side. They were so incensed by the pictures, considered demeaning to an animal that has become a symbol, that any more uncomplimentary images will be banned under a draft law. Even pictures of the bald, pink newborn cubs may be outlawed. The southwestern city of Chengdu, where most of the country’s test-tube panda babies are born as part of a drive to save an animal notoriously reluctant to have sex, has begun drafting the world’s...

Pandas Shown Porn to Stimulate Sex for Reproduction Monday, April 30 2007 Contributed by: Mills After Thailand's most popular animal couple failed to mate, zoo officials are gearing up for plan B -- a DVD they hope will get Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui in the mood for love, CNN's Narunart Prapanya reported. The pandas' first mating season -- a three-day window -- came last week. Despite a widely-publicized encounter between Chuang Chuang, a 6-year-old male, and 5-year-old Lin Hui, the mating apparently was unsuccessful. Zoo administrator Prasertsak Puttrakul, who leads a team taking care of the pandas, noted they...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sometimes strained ties between China and the United States gave way Tuesday to a new detente: the playful giant panda cub born at the National Zoo will be allowed to stay in the U.S. capital two more years. While Beijing and Washington have been at odds over issues such as the value of the Chinese currency and movie piracy, the two sides reached the agreement allowing the zoo to preserve one of its primary tourist attractions. The 125-pound (56 kg) cub Tai Shan, whose name means "peaceful mountain," has drawn about 2.25 million visitors and was to...

A roomful of baby panda bears At first look, you think they’re stuffed. I mean, how often do you see 16 live baby pandas together? Here’s your chance … The Sichuan Wolong Panda Protection and Breeding Center in southwest China has had a breeding boom. Sixteen pandas – including five sets of twins – have been born since July, 2006. The cubs are weighed and measured every five days. The heaviest cubs weighs a bit over 24 pounds, while the lightest weighs about 11 pounds. The pandas are due to stop suckling this month. Around that same time, the cubs...

Thai zookeepers are hoping a low-carb diet will get an overweight panda in the mood to mate. Chuang Chuang, a 330- pound panda, is too heavy to have sex with 253- pound Lin Hui, caretakers said. So they created a special diet for Chuang Chuang - replacing loaves of bread with low-fat bamboo branches. Zookeepers had planned to show the pair "panda porn" - instructional videos on mating techniques - but dropped that idea after research proved that not all pandas respond to the images.

Thailand puts panda on low-carb sex diet Sun Jan 14, 1:07 AM ET BANGKOK (AFP) - A male panda in Thailand has been put on a low-carb diet because he is too heavy to mate with his partner, his caretakers have said. Chuang Chuang weighs 150 kilos (330 pounds), while his partner Lin Hui is a lithe 115 kilos (253 pounds), said Kannika Nimtragol, a veterinarian at the Chiang Mai zoo in northern Thailand. "We think Chuang Chuang should not weigh over 140 kilogrammes. Otherwise Lin Hui will carry too much weight while mating," she told AFP. To help Chuang...

Giant pandas breeding at Wolong Nature Reserve

Viagra, pornography, partner-swapping, artificial tongues and electrified rectal probes. No, they are not the ingredients for a new series of Sex And The City; they are the hard-core husbandry techniques behind a massive boom in the captive giant ...

A drunken Chinese migrant worker jumped into a panda enclosure at the Beijing Zoo, was bitten by the bear and retaliated by chomping down on the animal's back, state media said Wednesday. Zhang Xinyan, from the central province of Henan, drank four jugs of beer at a restaurant near the zoo before visiting Gu Gu the panda on Tuesday, the Beijing Morning Post said. "He felt a sudden urge to touch the panda with his hand," and jumped into the enclosure, the newspaper said. The panda, who was asleep, was startled and bit Zhang, 35, on the right leg, it...