VISITORS to Flamingo Land’s zoo can now see two young red pandas.

The theme park near Pickering has announced that Bai Jiao, a male, and Tai Jang, a female, have gone on display in an enclosure next to the Sumatran tigers.

A spokeswoman said the creatures, both 18 months old, formed part of Flamingo Land’s international breeding programmes.

“We look forward to them having babies in the future,” she said.

“The red panda looks similar to a raccoon but is predominantly red in colour. The word panda makes us think of the giant panda which is a lot larger and black and white in colour but these animals are not related.

“The only similarities between them are that they are both native to China, their diet consists mainly of bamboo, and they have a modified wrist bone which can be used as an extra thumb.”