Richard Collins: A safe haven at Fota and Dublin's Himalayan Hills but red pandas are under pressure in the wild

The forests red pandas inhabit are being steadily reduced in size, cleared for dwellings and agriculture

Red panda at Fota Wildlife Park: It is estimated that only about 10,000 red pandas remain in the wild. Picture: Darragh Kane

Climbing mammals tend to be small, but there are exceptions.

An orang-utan, ‘the old man of the woods’, might tip the scales at 140kg — twice the weight of a person — yet it spends 90% of its 50-year-long life high in the canopy.