Red pandas tolerate whips (8)

I believe the answer is:

bearcats

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'red pandas' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both animals as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'tolerate whips' is the wordplay.
'tolerate' becomes 'bear' (synonyms).
'whips' becomes 'cats' (catting is a kind of whipping).
'bear'+'cats'='BEARCATS'

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.

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