The wilderness home of the giant panda

Article number 10125564

Although there have been several books on the behavior of the giant panda in the zoo environment, this is the only study of the panda in its wild and natural habitat in Western China. It is also a rare look at a little-known part of Asia. Based on his experiences during a pre-World War II expedition into the remote high mountain country of China, naturalist William Sheldon has written far more than a scholarly tract on pandas. His first-hand accounts of the land and its people, and the difficulties of doing field research in an area where no westerner has been since that time, are of extraordinary value. Much of the book is written in narrative style, with fascinating descriptions of tracking pandas in the snow, the other mammals and birds that share the habitat with the giant panda, and details of the general ecology of the wild and beautiful region known as "Panda Country." The work is generously illustrated with photographs and drawings. A naturalist of many interests, William G. Sheldon is best known for his research on the American woodcock. His fifteen years of work on the subject resulted in the publication of his well-known Book of the American Woodcock (University of Massachusetts Press, 1967). From 1948 to 1972, Mr. Sheldon served under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as Leader of the Massachusetts Cooperative Wildlife Unit. In 1967, he received the John Pearce Conservation Award, the highest award of the Wildlife Society in the Northeast. At present Mr. Sheldon continues to work at his home in Brewster, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod.

pp. 196