The Giant Panda Stole the Name
Western science described the red panda nearly fifty years before anyone in Europe had documented the giant panda. Frédéric Cuvier formally named it Ailurus fulgens in 1825. The name translates from Latin and Greek as "fire-coloured cat", which is at least honest about what it looks like. When Western naturalists later encountered the large black-and-white bear in China, they reached for the closest familiar label and called it the "giant panda," borrowing the name from an animal already in the books. The red panda did not get its name from the giant panda. The giant panda got its name from the red panda.
