kellyclowers -> ailurinae

Yeah I just lost my “haven’t changed my URL” cred. And I was over a decade too! Ah well.

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Photo by Wikimedia user Brunswyk CC BY-SA 3.0

Ailurinae is the sub-family of the red panda (Ailurus fulgens).

Ailuridae, the family level name, is more commonly seen, but as such it turns out it was already taken by a blog that has been inactive since 2016…

I am Ailuridae (sometimes with other numbers or such at the end) on a number of other networks, so.

Did you know, “Ailurus fulgens” means roughly “shining cat”? Ancient Greek αἴλουρος “ailouros” meaning ‘cat’ and Latin “fulgens” meaning “shining” or “bright”.

Also, the red panda is the “true” panda, as it was named “panda” in the west first, in 1825, while the giant panda was not named and described by western scientists until 1869. You can see that the giant panda came later by its genus name “Ailuropoda” which means “Ailurus foot” - not “cat foot” but rather “red panda foot” since both red and giant pandas have “false thumbs” which are opposable and used to help hold bamboo while they eat it. Of course locals in areas where they live have various names for them, some of which seem to relate them and others that don’t.

In fact, the red panda is closely related to (but not a member of) raccoons (Procyonidae), skunks (Mephitidae), and weasels (Mustelidae), though the exact relation between those 4 groups is uncertain. The giant panda meanwhile is just a straight up bear (Ursidae).