Howdy-do, Liu! Red panda Enoki has a new pal

What's cuter than a red panda? Two red pandas!

Liu (Lee-you), a 6-year-old red panda from the Toledo Zoo, arrived in town last week and is settling in at the Oregon Zoo, exploring his outdoor area for the first time this morning.

"He's very handsome," said Dr. Carlos Sanchez, the zoo's director of animal health, who stopped by Liu's habitat to observe, a red panda plushy tucked under one arm. "His tail is so blond - surfer blond."

Caregivers plan to introduce Liu to Enoki, a female red panda, who arrived last month. They hope the pair will hit it off and perhaps eventually 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.

Liu and Enoki 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.

Once they're out together, it should be easy for guests to tell the two apart, Gomez said: "Enoki is much smaller with a darker coat, and Liu has that distinctive blond tail."

Liu was born June 28, 2019, at the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn. An episode of the Animal Planet documentary series The Zoo traced the story of his mom, Willow, in the months leading up to and following birth. Liu's name means "willow" in Mandarin Chinese - a tribute to his mom.

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.