Today only about a thousand giant pandas survive in the wild. Dependent on a shrinking supply of bamboo on the one hand and threatened by human greed on the other, the panda is at extreme risk. Here, acclaimed naturalist George B. Schaller uses his evocative powers and the insight gained by four years in the forests of the Wolong and Tangjiahe panda reserves to document the plight of these creatures in their native habitat and in the midst of political problems as troubling as any natural threat.