"Giant Pandas in the Wild: Saving an Endangered Species" is an insider's view of one of the most alluring and least understood animals on the endangered species list. Through photographs never before published in a book readers enter a magical world in the remote mountainous area that is home to China's remaining 1100 wild pandas. Zhi, who began her research in 1985, made the panda's habitat her second home and gained the trust of more than 20 of these animals. Her observations and photographs dispel the popular myths about pandas and draw attention to the dedication required to save the panda from almost certain extinction.
From 1984 through 1995 a small band of ecologists led by Pan Wenshi from Peking University conducted a study of wild giant pandas in the Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi Province. This project was the first Chinese-led conservation project in China and was conducted during a significant transition period in Chinese history, as the country opened its society and science to the world. The project focused on behavioral observation of wild giant pandas, but evolved to include physiology, nutrition, ecology, land-use policy, and population biology as the staff became more aware that the issues with captive pandas (assisted reproduction, unusual diet, and genetic inbreeding) were not the most critical to survival of wild populations. It is evident in this work that, as the scientists gained knowledge, they came to see giant panda conservation as wrapped in landscape ecology and human/wildlife interactions. The group was seminal in the Chinese government's enactment of a logging ban to their study area by advocating for pandas at the national level. The project was summarized in a 2001 volume, but its publication in Mandarin limited its influence on the greater conservation community. This English version of the original work translates, condenses, and refines the original volume, with added contextual chapters on the importance of this volume and how our understanding of giant panda conservation is shaped by this pioneering field work.
Panda lovers will love following a giant panda and her cub in this engaging Science Reader from Step into Reading. Full of incredible photos and panda facts! Readers will learn how one mother panda and her cub are being protected and raised in a Chinese panda reserve, which seeks to help this vulnerable species survive. In fact, ChiDa, the panda cub, is being prepared to be released into the wild--once she is old enough and has learned important life skills from her mom! Young readers will find themselves rooting for ChiDa while decoding the simple text and gaining confidence in their reading. This book's fascinating photographs of pandas and its array of panda facts will captivate young nonfiction lovers. Great for proficient or reluctant readers. Step 3 Readers feature engaging characters in easy-to-follow plots about popular topics, for children who are ready to read on their own.
In this magnificent, heart-wrenching book--hailed Best Book of 1993 by the New York Times Book Review and USA Today--acclaimed naturalist and National Book Award winner George B. Schaller documents the plight of the mysterious panda--and urgently calls for the compassion needed to save these gentle animals from extinction. Includes a new Preface for this edition. 27-color plates.
Learn how the extraordinary impact of the panda—from obscurity to fame—is also the story of China’s transition from shy beginnings to center stage. Giant pandas have been causing a stir ever since their formal scientific discovery just over 140 years ago. Yet in spite of humankind’s evident obsession with the giant panda, it is only in the last few decades that scientific research has begun to show us what this mysterious, frequently misunderstood creature is really like. Henry Nicholls uses the rich and curious history of the giant panda to do several things: to ponder our changing attitudes toward the natural world; to offer a compelling history of the conservation movement; and to chart the rise of modern China on its journey to become the self-sufficient, twenty-first-century superpower it is today.
"In August 2015, zookeepers at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, were thrilled to spot a tiny shadow on an ultrasound. For a species as rare as the giant panda, every new cub is cause for celebration. Zoo staff monitored mother Mei Xiang, and within days a newborn appeared, weighing in at just one third of a pound. While Mei Xiang cradled her vulnerable infant, zookeepers monitored the pair day and night through cameras in the panda den, and some two million viewers logged on to the zoo website. First Ladies Michelle Obama and Peng Liyuan hosted a ceremony to announce the cub's name: Bei Bei, meaning "precious treasure" in Mandarin Chinese. An instant celebrity, the cub captured hearts all over the world. But pandas in zoos are considered emissaries from the People's Republic of China, the only country where they live in the wild. Four years after his birth in America, Bei Bei would embark on an important new mission."--
Panda Love is a collection of incredible images of these gentle giants. Ami Vitale's stunning photographs, taken on location in China, document the efforts to breed pandas and release them back into the wild. Ami was given unprecedented access to the pandas and her photos give an amazing insight into the bears' lives in both the sanctuaries and their natural habitat. Fluffy panda cubs tumble out of baskets and play hide-and-seek with their carers, while the adult pandas curiously explore the forest and climb trees. The giant panda is everyone's favorite bamboo-munching bear. China may be on its way to successfully saving its most famous ambassador, and Panda Love lovingly documents the process of putting the wild back into an icon.
Robert F. Sibert Honor Award winner "Complementing Thimmesh's thoughtful, engagingly written text are many arrestingly adorable color photographs of pandas in training and in the wild. A timely, uplifting story." —Kirkus, starred review From the Sibert medal–winning author of Team Moon and the bestselling Girls Think of Everything comes a riveting, timely account of panda conservation efforts in China, perfect for budding environmentalists and activists. Roughly a thousand years ago, an estimated 23,000 pandas roamed wild and free through their native China. But within the past forty years, more than fifty percent of the panda’s already shrinking habitat has been destroyed by humans, leaving the beautiful and beloved giant panda vulnerable to extinction. Despite the seemingly insurmountable odds—poaching, habitat destruction, pollution, human overpopulation, and global climate change—the panda is making a comeback. How? By humans teaching baby pandas how to be wild and stay wild. Chicago Public Library Best of the Year Kirkus Best Book of the Year Junior Library Guild Selection
