Edmonton zoo debuts endangered red panda cubs Fred and George

Two reddish panda cubs named aft duplicate wizards successful the “Harry Potter” bid person made their debut astatine the Edmonton Valley Zoo.

Fred and George waddled retired of their nest and entered their caller location down a solid show for the archetypal clip connected Friday afternoon.

They were seen sniffing with their achromatic snouts, licking and climbing a histrion astatine the centre of the display, chewing connected bamboo and approaching photographers adjacent the glass.

Laura Castor, an carnal attraction supervisor with the zoo, said first-time ma Kiki gave commencement astir 4 months agone and the cubs person already proven to beryllium rather akin to their namesakes: the red-headed Weasley twins successful the novels by J.K. Rowling.

They’re “quite adventurous and mischievous,” Castor said successful an interview.

They are besides named aft the twins due to the fact that of the reddish fur covering their body. The tips of their ears are achromatic and they person achromatic legs.

Castor said reddish pandas are an endangered species, with less than 2,500 remaining successful the wild, including adjacent the foothills of the Himalaya upland scope successful India, Nepal and China.

“So zoos play a truly important relation successful helping to sphere and promote the familial diverseness of the taxon done managed breeding programs,” Castor said.

She added Fred and George are “very important individuals who volition assistance lend to the endurance of their species.”

She said the cubs’ instauration to their caller situation was timely connected Friday, arsenic Edmonton saw its archetypal important snowfall of the play — akin upwind to what they would brushwood successful the wild.

She said reddish pandas were discovered successful 1825, years earlier black-and-white pandas.

“They person specified a unsocial postulation of carnal attributes and evolutionary history.”

For example, she said, they person the hips of a bear, carnal markings of a raccoon and canretract their claws similar a feline.

She said Fred and George tin turn up to 10 kilograms.