Karma

Karma was born in December 2013 and has lived at the Giant Panda Forest at River Wonders ever since. He is typically cautious around new activity, often choosing to observe his surroundings carefully from elevated resting spots before deciding whether to approach.

Only once sufficiently satisfied with the situation does he descend for hand-feeding, weight checks, or basic examinations — behaviours developed gradually through years of consistent positive reinforcement training and patient work by his keepers.

When Karma moves around the floor of his habitat, he is frequently scent-marking — a natural behaviour red pandas use to communicate and navigate their environment. Afterwards, he often returns to a preferred perch high in the trees, where he can survey the habitat with what appears to be considerable satisfaction.

His keepers also provide rotating enrichment items throughout the year, each of which Karma investigates with measured curiosity and the sort of deliberate caution one suspects he applies to most things in life.

Despite the name, red pandas are not closely related to giant pandas at all. In fact, Karma belongs to the taxonomic family Ailuridae — a family containing only red pandas and no other living species.

He is a Himalayan red panda, a sub-species recognised for its rich reddish coat and adaptation to cooler mountain forests. Karma also participates in the EAZA Ex-situ Programme (EEP), an international effort that helps maintain healthy and genetically diverse populations under human care.