Red panda rendezvous: world’s cutest meet-cute

Red pandas Enoki and Liu are getting comfortable with each other at the Oregon Zoo

Red pandas Enoki and Liu have been getting to know each other at the Oregon Zoo in recent weeks. Caregivers say their relationship has been developing "all on red panda time."

"They're pretty comfortable together," lead keeper Nicole Nicassio-Hiskey said. "They've been taking everything at their own pace. Enoki's definitely in charge."

Since late June, the two have been sharing the same space but without much direct interaction, she said. Now that's starting to change.

"The first time they met, Enoki just curled up in her den and hit snooze for the entire morning," Nicassio-Hiskey laughed. "Red pandas sometimes sleep for two-thirds of the day. They use their tails like snuggly blankets."

But things have progressed well since, she said: "They've been hanging out more. Sometimes you'll see them snoozing in the same maple tree, just a branch or two apart from each other."

Care staff are hopeful the pair will eventually hit it off and perhaps add to the population of their endangered species.

"These two represent a species in trouble," said Kelly Gomez, who oversees the zoo's red panda area. "In the past 25 years, habitat loss, poaching and the illegal wildlife trade have wiped out nearly half the world's red panda population. Hopefully, we can help inspire a new chapter in the conservation of this incredible species."

Red pandas are listed as endangered by the IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Enoki and Liu came to Portland on a recommendation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan for red pandas - a cooperative program among accredited zoos that helps create a genetically diverse, self-sustaining population to guarantee the species' long-term future.

Though red pandas share part of their name with giant pandas, the animals are in a class all by themselves: The sharp-toothed, ring-tailed omnivores are the only members of the Ailuridae family. Found in the montane forests of the Himalayas and major mountain ranges of southwestern China, their striking red, white and black fur provides camouflage in the shadowed nooks of the trees among reddish moss and white lichens.