Pandas

Great book, lots and lots of facts. Great pictures of pandas. My son loved it. If you like pandas (and how could you not!), you'll like this book. It is a great resource.

This is a scientific conservationist treatise on the Giant Panda and the Red or Lesser Panda. The book is well-researched and properly cross-reference. It covers extensive the treatment of Pandas in the wild and in zoos. The book covers the history of pandas, the geographic range of pandas, the ecological position of pandas and bamboo in the forest, physiology of the giant pandas thumb (and to a lesser extent the red panda's pseudo thumb) and other biological adaptions in panda physiology, Social behavior among giant panda, pandas in zoos and nature reserves, captive breeding of pandas, and conservation efforts up to 1990. This is a well illustrated book - it has maps, drawings, and photos. The book is laced with charts, appendices, footnotes, a bibliography, and an index. Two appendices cover bamboo species important to the Pandas. One appendices covers Pandas held in non chinese Zoos. The book is unique in the level of research and detail that it provides. The author has quoted various historical figures/text. It's only flaw is that it is 10 years out of date and it is limited to what was known about the Panda at that time so some of the latest progress in the conservation of Giant Pandas are not covered, e.g. panda cub milk substitute formula. However, much of the author's concerns are still valid today. The book is fairly easy to read - 11th to 12th grade level reading. Person's interested in this book might want to read George B. Schaller's "The Last Panda" which is less scientific, more passionate, and more current College level work or they might be interested in the book "The Giant Pandas of Wolong" by George B. Schaller, Hu JinChu, Pan Wenshi, and Zhu Jing which is an older scientific treatment of the conservation effort to save the Giant Panda written at a College Level.