Save the Red Panadas

Prototyping & Diagramming

The goal of this project was to make a stance and build awareness on endangered animals, by using trash to build a model or prototype of the animal itself.

I immediately thought about the panda, since they are my favorite animals. The Red Pandas specifically are part of the Aliuridae family, native to China, India, Myanmar, and Bhutan Region. They mainly live in forest 85% to 95% of their diet consists of bamboo. Their main threats are expansion of housing, urban, and commercial areas. They’re habitats are changing and endangering these cute animals. They also have high threats from being poached, illegally traded and trapped. During the winter, the Red Pandas use their furry tails to provide warmth during the winter.

Over a span of a week, I collected a milk cartoon, brown paper bags, rope, bubble wrap, plastic water bottles, plastic containers, and more.

I deeply studied the Red Pandas physiology and noticed it’s beautiful coat, long white striped furry tail, white ears, whiskers, paws, and facial features.

I tried playing around with few items to figure out what would be best to use as a base for the body. The milk carton, created the perfect body shape which I then covered with a brown paper bag to achieve the right color of the coat for the animal. I used the plastic triangle squares and wrapped them in a brown paper bag and painted them using black and white paint to achieve the furry ears.

The arms were created by the handles of the brown paper bag and molded into paws. Toilet paper rolls were used as legs and lids of a bottle were attached to the end to seem like the bottom of the paw. Lastly, I painted on the face and attached some whiskers to add more detail to the red panda.

When thinking about the surroundings of the Panda, it was important for me to show the effects of expansions of cities and loss of homes for these cute animals. It was only fitting to shoot photos of the Red Panda in a city setting.

Now let’s do our part and Save the Red Pandas!

What can you do to help?

There are 46 protected areas in China, 19 in India, and 5 in Bhutan, and 3 in Myanmar. You can now get involved by adopting a Red Panda through WWF & the Red Panda Organization that helps protect Red Pandas and their habitats.