The adorable, fuzzy red panda in the coming years if trends continue, according to a report by the New York Times.

Red pandas, which are more closely related to raccoons than panda bears, are not yet an endangered species, but they are listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Many of the will need to rapidly adapt to a changing climate or face extinction, the New York Times said.

A Red Panda is pictured at the 'Zoom Torino,' a zoological park in Cumiana near Turin, Italy, on June 3, 2015.

(MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP/Getty Images)

"Because they are in such a small niche in the Himalayas, and as climate change warms that area and moves that population higher in elevation, they’re going to lose habitat probably faster than they can accommodate to climate change," Dr. Elizabeth Freeman, a conservation biologist at George Mason University and research associate at the Smithsonian Institution, told the Times.

Climate change is just one of many threats facing red pandas today. They could also be lost to deforestation or disease, the Times added, and both are present in the narrow swath of land in western China and Nepal where they live.

The world's zoos may be the red panda's only hope. Currently, , the Red Panda Network said, and many conservation groups are working to prevent the animals from eradication.

But scientists are also looking to study the red pandas that aren't in captivity. Wild red pandas may serve as a barometer for climate change in the rest of the ecosystem.

"I see them as being a critical indicator species for the health of the Himalayan ecosystem, probably more so than giant pandas," Freeman told the New York Times.

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