Smithsonian Book of Giant Pandas by Susan Lumpkin and John Seidensticker, Smithsonian Institution Press, 拢30.50, ISBN 1588340384
North American Tree Squirrels by Michael Steele and John Koprowski, Smithsonian Institution Press, 拢17.95, ISBN 1560989866
GOOD names sell. Few people took notice when a 19th-century biologist described the Bicoloured Bear, an odd new Chinese 鈥渃arnivore鈥� just received from the indefatigable P猫re David (of deer fame). But when the name changed to the Giant Panda 鈥淧anda-monium鈥� broke out, in the word of one newspaper describing the reception of the first live panda at Washington鈥檚 National Zoo.
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Giant Panda is a compact and beautifully illustrated history of the discovery, biology and conservation of this odd bamboo-eating bear (yes, scientists agree on that now, and how they finally decided that it really isn鈥檛 a great big racoon is in here too). The authors have devoted decades to panda conservation. Their experience shows, both in the scholarship, the fine vignettes from the field, and the deft popular summaries of panda biology. Their treatment of panda palaeobiology is equally fascinating. Like today鈥檚 gorillas, a lowland species of panda once complemented today鈥檚 high-altitude form.
The authors are cautiously optimistic about the survival of the panda, the last remnant of an exceptionally ancient lineage. They are as well versed in Realpolitik as in the arcana of reproductive biology. They know the political and population pressures on the panda鈥檚 misty, bamboo-clad home.
North American Tree Squirrels is a bit more specialised and less populist, but provides fine and up-to-date coverage of this diverse group, of which the familiar grey squirrel that ransacks our bird tables is by far the commonest, least specialised鈥攁nd least beautiful.