Udo the Red Panda is the costumed mascot of the

University of Mannheim The University of Mannheim (German: ''Universität Mannheim''), abbreviated UMA, is a public research university in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1967, the university has its origins in the ''Palatine Academy of Sciences'', ...

's athletics teams. He represents an anthropomorphic version of a

red panda The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle ...

(or red cat-bear).

History

The Udo the Red Panda mascot officially debuted at the 201
WHU Euromasters
when Mannheim beat LMU during the championships. Since then, the mascot has been a fan favorite for Mannheim's athletics fans. As the Mannheim athletics teams do not have a logo on their helmets or uniforms, Udo's likeness appears on much team merchandise and such.

Description and Rationale

The red panda (Latin: Ailurus fulgens), also known as lesser panda or red cat-bear, is a small arboreal

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

native to the eastern

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

s and southwestern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

that has been classified as Vulnerable by IUCN as its wild population is estimated at less than 10,000 mature individuals. The population continues to decline and is threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and inbreeding depression, although red pandas are protected by national laws in their range countries. The Mannheim sports teams have elected the red panda for their favorite athletics mascot to make the problem of the declining population of this mammal more visible; in addition, the red panda is one of the visitor magnets at the

Heidelberg Zoo Heidelberg Zoo is a zoo in Germany which was founded in 1933 and opened for the public on 20 November 1934. Since 1998, the zoo director has been Klaus Wünnemann. History The zoo was created as a foundation, initiated by the ornithologist, O ...

which is the next larger

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes. The term ''zoological g ...

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

External links

Official Teaser of WHU Euromasters 2012

WHU Euromasters on Twitter

Notes and references

{{Universität Mannheim Bear mascots Sports mascots University of Mannheim Fictional pandas Mascots introduced in 2011 German mascots Fictional characters from Baden-Württemberg

History

Description and Rationale

See also

External links

Notes and references