FRONT ROYAL, Va. (7News) — The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute has named its red panda twins Shanti and Cinder, honoring a conservation worker in Nepal and highlighting the male cub’s reddish-brown coloring.
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The twins were born May 29 to parents Sequoia and Mow Mow at the Smithsonian’s conservation campus in Front Royal, Virginia.
The female cub, Shanti, was named for Shanti Malla, whom the Smithsonian identified as the first female forest guardian in western Nepal. Her work includes monitoring wild red pandas, educating communities, investigating poaching and protecting forests.
“We protect forests and wildlife for our children,” Malla said in the Smithsonian’s announcement. “If there are no trees, there is no life.”
Cinder got his name from his coloring. The Smithsonian described him as less fiery than his cub sibling, Dolly, and less protective than his twin, Shanti.
The Smithsonian’s Council helped select the names, according to the announcement.
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The twins were born at the Front Royal campus, which is closed to the public, rather than at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
This post was originally published on Fox 45 by Sinclair Media Group.
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