The Way of the Panda
Henry Nicholls (Gonville and Caius, 1992)
Profile Books Ltd
Giant pandas have been causing a stir ever since their formal scientific discovery just over 140 years ago. For almost a century they defied classification, they outwitted hunters and escaped trappers, left the public elbowing and zoo turnstiles spinning, were sent on diplomatic journeys, branded onto products, turned into company logos and thanks to the World Wide Fund for Nature (which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2011) this species became the face of global conservation.
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.
Science writer Henry Nicholls uses the rich and curious history of the giant panda to do several things: to ponder our changing attitudes towards 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.
Publication date: 30 September 2010
9781846683688
Added: 27 September 2010
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