The two newest animals at The Brandywine Zoo are poised to make their First State debut.
Twin baby red pandas will be on view beginning Thursday, just one day shy of their first birthday.
Bill Montgomery, Executive Director of the Delaware Zoological Society, says the pandas were born as part of an initiative to ensure their existence.
“The whole goal of the Species Survival Program is to make sure that there are adequate numbers of the animals being reproduced, so we’re happy to help with that," he said.
"They’re just beautiful animals. They’re rather small, they’re cuddly, they’re red with white on the faces, they’re the cutest things you’d ever want to see.”
The racoon-like baby red panda sisters arrived in Delaware last month from the Detroit Zoo. Roughly the size of a house cat, the animals are considered “vulnerable” on the list of threatened species.
Montgomery estimates there are less than 10,000 red pandas in the world due to habitat loss. The animals are native to China, Tibet and Nepal.
The twins make their debut in an enclosure outfitted with a sycamore branches for climbing and plenty of bamboo to snack on, which offers visitors two sides from which to view the animals.
Montgomery says he expects the animals will draw big crowds to the Wilmington zoo.
“We’ve had a large sign up, announcing that they'd be coming soon so we’ve got a whole lot of interest and a lot of people coming and folks that came earlier this summer said ‘we’ll be back to see the pandas’.," Montgomery said. "We expect they’re going to really help attendance here in the zoo for many years to come but certainly for the rest of the summer.”
Later this summer, tamarin monkeys are expected to return to the zoo in a new exhibit house. The old monkey house was destroyed last year when a large tree fell on the building.
Last month, the Brandywine Zoo revealed plans for a major expansion that will include a new rainforest exhibit.
