Photo from NPR Ron Garrison/Associated Press
Read this fabulous NPR article on the work of George Schaller who wrote the book The Last Panda. Schallers’ work showed for the first time that the panda population wasn’t decreasing due to cyclic bamboo grooves providing an unreliable food source but instead was due to human poachers. Due in large part to his work, predation went down, the Chinese government stepped up enforcement, and since then the panda population has increased in the wild by 45 percent.
Thanks Dr. Schaller for keeping such an awesome (and adorable) creature safe for future generations!