by
Dr. Brandie Smith
Book description:
Spend time in the company of giant pandas with this delightful collection of stories and first-person insights about their behavior, biology, and conservation from panda expert Dr. Brandie Smith, director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
What is it about giant pandas that makes them nearly impossible to resist? Brandie Smith, director of the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC, and a true expert in giant pandas, gives readers a front-row seat to these miracles of nature, these bamboo-devouring carnivores, describing what it’s like to feed them, train them, cherish them, and help them survive.
Pandas, like people, have strong individual personalities, quirks, habits, likes, and dislikes. Through Smith’s eyes, we get to meet several generations of pandas who have called the National Zoo home. Smith addresses many misconceptions about giant pandas, revealing surprising truths about their biology, evolution, and the challenges involved with taking care of them. Giant pandas have a unique reproductive style that has worked perfectly for millions of years in the wild but has made it challenging for them to respond to climate change and habitat destruction, and makes propagating them in zoos extremely difficult.
With chapters on raising baby pandas, the diplomacy involved in exchanging pandas with China, and the ongoing quest to keep giant pandas from going extinct, In the Company of Pandas is the ultimate guide to these irresistible creatures and why we love them, written by one of the world’s leading experts.
Dr. Brandie Smith
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My review:
5 stars
In the Company of Pandas: My Life with the World’s Favorite Bear by Dr. Brandie Smith and William Smith is an engaging non-fiction book
that explores the allure of giant pandas, the complicated task of keeping them
from extinction, and the global efforts that ensure that they continue in their
role as ambassadors and examples of what good mankind can achieve.
I tend to approach non-fiction books with a bit of
trepidation, since I sometimes get bored with dry, pedantic tomes full of facts
and statistics. Fortunately, this book is nothing like that, and I was drawn in
from the very first page. Those in my part of the world have the wonderful
opportunity to join those who fall under the spell because the San Diego Zoo
has a beautiful exhibit that is even better than it was years ago when I was
able to see the first pair loaned from China. I remember being so sad when that
couple was returned to China and the joy of seeing that the species was
reproducing, but I never imagined what a milestone it was to get these
charismatic animals to breed.
Dr. Smith brings us behind the scenes, both in terms of her
journey to become director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and the challenges
of learning about a mysterious animal that was only studied through its poop
and remnants as it traveled through the wilderness of China. I once thought I
wanted to be a zoo veterinarian, only to discover how difficult it is to join
that elite cadre, and I was impressed by the twists and turns that led this
determined woman to her unique position. This was compounded by her facility at
bringing the reader along on the journey to discover and surmount the
challenges of breeding an animal who is only receptive ONE day!
I already loved pandas before this book, but now I truly
appreciate the amazing gift shared with us and the remarkable lengths
scientists, veterinarians, and caretakers the world over, but particularly in
China, have gone to in order to make sure the world still has these wonderful
animals to appreciate. A book well worth reading.
A copy of this title was provided for review
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