快猫短视频

鈥淐HARISMATIC megafauna鈥� is the term that conserva-tionists use to describe the flagship species that bring in the ecotourism dollars and may stir the conscience of a government. Without them it is much harder to establish projects that can preserve whole ecosystems and throw a lifeline to smaller, often less photogenic creatures.

And they don鈥檛 get much more charismatic than the giant panda, the strange vegetarian bear from the mountains of western China. Even with the panda鈥檚 iconic status, however, it looked as if nothing could save it a few years ago: between 1975 and 1989 the giant panda lost half its remaining habitat to logging and agriculture. The survivors clung on as small groups in 24 forest fragments. It was a 鈥渂lueprint for extinction鈥�, says leading panda expert George Schaller in his foreword to this book.

Since then things have changed and the panda鈥檚 future is brighter. Now recognised as a national treasure, the Chinese Government began encouraging the collaborative research that underpins any conservation plan. Giant Pandas is the proceedings of a conference in 2000 that reviewed our knowledge of this beautiful, enigmatic beast.

In the crucible of the world鈥檚 fastest growing economy, it is unlikely that goodwill alone would have been enough. It needed the political will generated by disastrous floods in the Yangtze river basin. In 1998 this prompted the Chinese government to ban commercial logging and begin a massive reforestation programme in the mountains where the river rises. A policy designed to prevent soil erosion might well be the lucky break that will preserve the panda for future generations.