Are red pandas related to raccoons? The similarities are there. But not to the giant panda, which is a true bear. Maybe they both eat bamboo? Must be some reason they're both called pandas. Love to hear theories on this.

  

Here's what Wikipedia says (if I may borrow such a large quote):

"The red panda (Ailurus fulgens, or shining-cat), is a small arboreal mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China.[2] It is the only species of the genus Ailurus. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, it has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a waddling gait due to its shorter front legs. It feeds mainly on bamboo, but is omnivorous and may also eat eggs, birds, insects, and small mammals. It is a solitary animal, mainly active from dusk to dawn, and is largely sedentary during the day.

"The red panda has been classified as Vulnerable by IUCN because its population is estimated at fewer than 10,000 mature individuals. Although red pandas are protected by national laws in their range countries, their numbers in the wild continue to decline mainly due to habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and inbreeding depression.

"The red panda has been previously classified in the families Procyonidae (raccoons) and Ursidae (bears), but recent research has placed it in its own family Ailuridae, in superfamily Musteloidea along with Mustelidae and Procyonidae.  Two subspecies are recognized.

"Now Since the Procyonidae include raccoons, there is some (distant) relationship with the red pandas. The similarities must be due to convergent evolution, as members of Procyonidae show a large disparity in appearances (not so much is size, however)."

And that's the biology lesson for the day.  Only question left is, do red pandas have an additional "thumb" (really a modified wrist bone) or other appendage to help them strip bamboo, like their (very distant) giant panda cousins?  According to National Geographic Wild, they do, but I haven't (yet) found out whether it is the same wrist bone that is modified.  It would have to be another case of convergent evolution, and an amazing one at that if the same bone is modified (well, I shouldn't be so hasty to say so because the bone in question might be almost ideal for the modification).  Still, I'm going to look more into this subject because it's already amazing!