Animals in ilia Wild 



"THE BLACK-AND-WHITE BEAR" 



In its toddler stage the giant panda is playful and appealing one of the zoo's 

 outstandingly popular performers. But the grown-up giant panda, which weighs 

 about three hundred pounds, does not relish captivity and is apt to be surly, 

 not to say downright bad-tempered. 



in a play pen, took milk from a nursing bottle, and when it was 

 tired it whimpered like a human infant. It was named Su-Lin, 

 which has been translated as "a little bit of something mighty 

 cute." 



Since the time of Su-Lin's introduction into the United States, 

 more than a dozen giant pandas have been captured and brought 

 from their homes in western China to zoos in the United States 

 and Europe. An unfortunate aspect of the pandas' scarcity is that 

 when one of them dies, it is not easily replaced. Although this 

 animal's appearance reminds us of a bear, it is more closely related 

 to the raccoon. In the wild state the panda is believed to live on 

 bamboo leaves and stems; in a zoo corn-meal mush, nourishing 

 if less exotic, forms a large part of its diet. 



ODDITIES FROM AUSTRALIA 



Among the most remarkable creatures in our zoos are 

 several near-extinct Australian animals. Even in Australia these 

 believe-it-or-not leftovers from prehistoric times can generally be 

 seen only in zoos. 



