"Jang" escaped from his enclosure on Thursday but has been found lurking in the nearby treetops. Red pandas are an "endangered" species, with fewer than 10,000 of them left in the wild.
The missing red panda was found in a treeImage: Mathias Appel/Zoo Duisburg/dpa/picture alliance
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A red panda that went missing at a German zoo earlier this week has been found, ending a 36-hour search for the animal.
"Jang" went missing early on Thursday, prompting Duisburg Zoo staff to begin a search for the red panda — a species on the "endangered" list.
From monkeys to tiny water bears: Animals in space
On May 28, 1959 two monkeys — Miss Baker and Able — flew into space. Their trip, which lasted 15 minutes, was a milestone. Today it's taboo. But they weren't the only ones — there have been plenty of animal space envoys.
Image: imago/UIG/NASA
Animals on a space mission
The first ever monkey in space, Gordo, in 1958, unfortunately did not survive the flight. Miss Baker and Able (above) were luckier. The squirrel monkey and the rhesus monkey successfully completed their 15-minute mission into space in May, 1959 — nine minutes of which were zero-gravity.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Surviving space
Able and Miss Baker were the first monkeys to return from orbit alive. They were used to test zero-gravity 500 kilometres above the earth. Able died shortly after landing, during an operation. But Miss Baker (above) still had a long life ahead of her — she died in 1984 at the age of 27.
Image: imago/UIG/NASA
In the capsule
Unlike Miss Baker and Able, the little rhesus monkey Sam (above) did not test zero-gravity. His flight with NASA's Mercury capsule was instead focused on the functionality of the rescue system. Thankfully, Sam survived the flight. As did his female successor, Miss Sam, another rhesus monkey.
Image: Getty Images/Keystone
The first chimpanzee
Ham was the first chimpanzee in space in 1961. Ham experienced zero gravity for six minutes. His mission was groundbreaking: in the same year, NASA launched staffed space flight with Alan Shepard on board. With his custom-made space suit, Ham provided important insights into how an organism was able to tolerate the conditions of weightlessness
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
But dogs came first!
But that's enough monkeys — the Russians had actually already started sending animals into space before that. However, they preferred dogs. As part of the Soviet mission Sputnik 2, Laika (above) was sent into space in 1957. She was the first four-legged animal in space. Sadly she died a few hours after the launch of her rocket.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot
Some made it...
Despite Laika's death, the Soviet Union continued to send dogs into space — but under better conditions. In 1960, dogs Strelka and Belka were sent into space and brought back alive. Strelka became the first surviving female dog in space, and therefore quite a famous one. In 1961, the daughter of the then US President Kennedy received one of her puppies as a gift.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Sputnik/E. Biyatov
The very, very first: Fruit flies
But – excuse us – dogs were actually not the first animals either. In fact, 10 years before dogs were sent to space, in 1947, fruit flies boarded a rocket. And, of course, the resilient insects survived.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Animal welfare above science
The days of dogs and monkeys in space are (fortunately) over. But NASA and co don't want to do without animals completely. Today, however, the animals they take are much smaller and more robust. In 2007, the European Space Agency (ESA) sent a group of tardigrades into space for twelve days. The tiny animals were exposed to a vacuum and cosmic rays — and almost all of them survived.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/F. Fox
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Branching out
Binoculars and thermal imaging cameras were used as a thorough search got underway in the hope of finding the wayward animal. A thermal imaging drone was also deployed Friday morning to assist in the aerial search, which was eventually brought to a happy conclusion when the long-tailed panda was found lurking in a treetop on the zoo grounds.
A team retrieved Jang using a fire brigade aerial ladder. The rescuers then took him to the zoo's own veterinary practice for a checkup. The wayward panda was declared well enough to return to his enclosure shortly afterward.
Duisburg Zoo, located in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, believes the red panda climbed over the fence at one point and out of the enclosure with the help of a "plant climbing aid," the zoo said. As a result, staff cut back the vegetation before Jang returned to his enclosure.
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Unlike giant pandas, red pandas still 'endangered'
Apart from a weakness for bamboo, red pandas don't have much in common with their black-and-white namesakes.
The red panda is dwarfed by the black-and-white colossus that shares its name, with some giant pandas reaching over 1.5 meters (almost 5 feet) in height and weighing up to 150 kilograms (330 pounds), while red pandas typically grow to the size of a house cat.
Due to habitat loss and poaching, the red panda's very existence is under threat, with its wild population estimated at fewer than 10,000.
The giant panda came off the "endangered" list in 2016 after extensive conservation efforts in China. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) now classifies the panda as a "vulnerable" species, reflecting its growing numbers in southern China.
