Posted on 08/22/2008 2:57:54 PM PDT by Soliton
There is a 15ft anthropomorphic panda in painted concrete by the media village here opposite the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing. There was a cuddly panda in the goody bag. On my desk here as I write, there is a drawing of a cute panda with a lot of children holding flowers. One world, one sickbag. But I'll tell you something to make you cast cynicism aside: there are still some real pandas left.
There are actually more than there were 20 years ago: an 1988 census counted 1,110 pandas left in the wild, but in 2004 there were 1,590. My God: are we going to be overrun by pandas? Of all the large animals out of kilter with the 21st century, the panda takes the prize. The only serious problem that pandas have with survival is (a) they don't like food and (b) they don't like sex. Well, that's a small exaggeration, but they are unbelievably finicky about both.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
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