Abstract

Red Panda: Biology and Conservation of the First Panda provides a broad-based overview of the biology of the red panda, Ailurus fulgens. A carnivore that feeds almost entirely on vegetable material and is colored chestnut red, chocolate brown and cream rather than the expected black and white. This book gathers all the information that is available on the red panda both from the field and captivity as well as from cultural aspects, and attempts to answer that most fundamental of questions, "What is a red panda?" Scientists have long focused on the red panda’s controversial taxonomy. Is it in fact an Old World procyonid, a very strange bear or simply a panda? All of these hypotheses are addressed in an attempt to classify a unique species and provide an in-depth look at the scientific and conservation-based issues urgently facing the red panda today.

Red Panda not only presents an overview of the current state of our knowledge about this intriguing species but it is also intended to bring the red panda out of obscurity and into the spotlight of public attention.

• Wide-ranging account of the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) covers all the information that is available on this species both in and ex situ
• Discusses the status of the species in the wild, examines how human activities impact on their habitat, and develops projections to translate this in terms of overall panda numbers
• Reports on status in the wild, looks at conservation issues and considers the future of this unique species
• Includes contributions from long-standing red panda experts as well as those specializing in fields involving cutting-edge red panda research.

"This volume is overall an excellent work, not just serving to inform the reader about the red panda, but also providing a model for how other books focusing on a single species should be constructed."--Journal of Mammalian Evolution, Red Panda

"This really useful book consists of 26 chapters written by experts in all areas of the biology of the red panda. It therefore makes both an enjoyable and informative read; a book to keep and refer to frequently." - Dr Miranda F. Stevenson, BIAZA - British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Zooquaria (73rd issue)

"This book enables us to understand so much about the little red enigma and, as Simon Stuart says in the Foreword, the book reminds us of the problems confronting the red panda in the wild and of what we will lose should it die out.  We must not allow this to happen."--Zooquaria