[Pippin]

And what a cutie it is! This cub was shown off to the cameras on June 30 at the Edmonton Valley Zoo in Canada. A rare Styan red panda cub, Sha-lei is female and was born June 13, weighing in at 169 grams.

Now that I saw that, I wanted to know more about this animal! Here's what I found out. The Styan panda is named after the man who discovered it in 1897, F.W. Styan. According to the San Diego Zoo's website, the Styan panda while being classified as part of the red panda family, differs from the western red panda in that it's larger and more vibrantly colored. This beautiful animal is a bit of an enigma. Scientists have debated for years if it should be classified as a panda at all with the general consensus now being it's more linked to raccoons.

The proper name for the Styan panda is Ailurus fulgens styani. "Ailurus (from the Greek word ailouros, which means cat, because of the red panda’s catlike features) and fulgens, which means fire-colored or shining," San Diego Zoo informs us. The styani was added as a nod to F.W. for bringing it to the world's attention.

In China where it naturally lives they have a more memorable name for the red panda: fire fox (hun-ho). Shar-Lei can expect to grow up to be as pretty as this.

[Daniel7]

Aww lol. It looks more like a racoon though.

[*susan*]

She is absolutely adorable!

[macro01]

oh i love panda