Red Pandas in Entertainment and Elsewhere

The appeal of the red panda has not escaped the creators of film, television, and video games. Read on for some recent red panda appearances. Have you seen them?

Film and Television

• The Legend of Korra – A sequel to the popular Avatar: The Last Airbender TV series, this show features a recurring character named Pabu. Pabu is a fire ferret whose design appears to be a cross between a red panda (“firefox”) and a ferret.
• Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2 – Both movies feature Master Shifu, a red panda who is a master of the kung fu art of self defence. He serves as a mentor to the main character, a giant panda named Po.
• Barbie as the Island Princess – This movie features a red panda named Sagi who serves as a close friend to Barbie. Sagi is featured on some of the movie’s merchandise, including a plush, a figurine included with a barbie doll, and even pop tarts!

• Enviropals – Rae Rae is a large red panda hosting the PBS kids science show.

Video Games

• Red Panda Run – In May 2012 a group of graduates at GNWC in Vancouver created an addictive game for Red Panda Network on the iOS platform (iPhone, iPad, iPod) in a free ad-supported version and a 99 cent add-free version, that helps spread our message about red panda conservation in an entertaining way to new audiences. The December 2012 update includes exciting new features.
• World of Warcraft – In mid 2012 Blizzard Entertainment introduced a new playable race called the Pandaren into the latest expansion of the game, called ‘Mists of Pandaria‘. The most common representative looks more like a giant panda; the red pandaren look similar (just a little more red patterns), females have a bushy tale, males just a stub.
• Disney Animal Kingdom Explorers – This Facebook game featured the image of a red panda in its Panda Forest area.
• The Exiled Realm of Arborea (TERA) – A Korean massively-multiplayer online game (MMO), TERA allows players to choose a race called Popori who can resemble a variety of animals. One of the creature models appears to be based on the red panda.
• Pandanda – An online game ‘Pandanda’ uses red panda avatars in a variety of colors.
• Bipo: Mystery of the Red Panda – Play as a red panda named Bipo in this adventure by Red Panda Games.

Other References

• Mozilla Firefox – Popular web browser Mozilla Firefox is named after the red panda and uses the panda’s likeness in its logo. Mozilla also occasionally (mostly in winter) hosts a program called Firefox Live, which broadcast live young red panda cubs, in 2010/2011 and 2012 at the Knoxville Zoo, and provides a link to RPN’s conservation program of red pandas in the wild.
• The red panda has served as the state animal of Sikkim, India since the early 1990s. It is also the mascot of the Darjeeling Tea Festival.
• Red Panda Adventures – A podcast in the style of 1930s old time radio that chronicles the adventures of “Canada’s greatest superhero”, the Red Panda, a human who wears a costume based on a the creature.

Where will red pandas appear next?

Send us a tweet or Facebook message if you come across other cool pages we should add.