<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//TaxonX//DTD Taxonomic Treatment Publishing DTD v0 20100105//EN" "../../nlm/tax-treatment-NS0.dtd">
<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:tp="http://www.plazi.org/taxpub" article-type="research-article" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">99</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="index">urn:lsid:arphahub.com:pub:6E34A7CD-9970-58C0-A006-084EF6D2947A</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title xml:lang="en">Acta Biologica Sibirica</journal-title>
        <abbrev-journal-title xml:lang="en">ABS</abbrev-journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="epub">2412-1908</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Pensoft Publishers</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3897/abs.7.e71816</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">71816</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Research Article</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="biological_taxon">
          <subject>Animalia</subject>
          <subject>Plantae</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="scientific_subject">
          <subject>Biodiversity &amp;amp; Conservation</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>A study on plant preferences of red panda (<italic>Ailurus fulgens</italic>) in the wild habitat: foundation for the conservation of the species</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group content-type="authors">
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Roka</surname>
            <given-names>Bhupen</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:type="simple">bhupenroka2012@rediffmail.com</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Jha</surname>
            <given-names>Alankar K.</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A2">2</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Chhetri</surname>
            <given-names>Dhani Raj</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <aff id="A1">
        <label>1</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Sikkim University, Gangtok, India</addr-line>
        <institution>Sikkim University</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Gangtok</addr-line>
        <country>India</country>
      </aff>
      <aff id="A2">
        <label>2</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, Darjeeling, India</addr-line>
        <institution>Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Darjeeling</addr-line>
        <country>India</country>
      </aff>
      <author-notes>
        <fn fn-type="corresp">
          <p>Corresponding author: Bhupen Roka (<email xlink:type="simple">bhupenroka2012@rediffmail.com</email>).</p>
        </fn>
        <fn fn-type="edited-by">
          <p>Academic editor: </p>
        </fn>
      </author-notes>
      <pub-date pub-type="collection">
        <year>2021</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>08</day>
        <month>12</month>
        <year>2021</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>7</volume>
      <fpage>425</fpage>
      <lpage>439</lpage>
      <uri content-type="arpha" xlink:href="http://openbiodiv.net/E98A65B1-1DE1-5639-964B-9727D82B9E5D">E98A65B1-1DE1-5639-964B-9727D82B9E5D</uri>
      <uri content-type="zenodo_dep_id" xlink:href="https://zenodo.org/record/5785069">5785069</uri>
      <history>
        <date date-type="received">
          <day>19</day>
          <month>07</month>
          <year>2021</year>
        </date>
        <date date-type="accepted">
          <day>05</day>
          <month>11</month>
          <year>2021</year>
        </date>
      </history>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>Bhupen Roka, Alankar K. Jha, Dhani Raj Chhetri</copyright-statement>
        <license license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" xlink:type="simple">
          <license-p>This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <label>Abstract</label>
        <p>The red panda is a lesser carnivore that has adapted to the herbivore diet and is distributed in the Himalayan and Hengduan mountain ranges. The study conducted on red panda in Singalila National Park recorded the highest encounter of the species within the altitude of 2800 to 3200 meters in the broad leaf deciduous and broad leaf coniferous forest. 22.22% of direct sightings of red pandas occurred on plant species belonging to the family Fagaceae and were followed by the family Ericaceae (18.52%). The plant species mostly preferred by the red panda in Singalila National Park were <italic>Lithocarpus pachyphyllus</italic>, <italic>Rhododendron arboreum</italic>, <italic>Abies densa</italic>, and <italic>Betulia utilis</italic>. During all seasons, the dominant plants found in the red panda pellets were <italic>Arundinaria maling</italic> and <italic>Arundinaria aristata</italic>.  The distribution of the red panda is influenced by the presence of the preferred plant species, therefore, through this studies effort has been made to document the plant species used by the red panda in the wild habitat.</p>
      </abstract>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
