BIOGRAPHY OF A GIANT PANDA

Mela is a free living, fictional representative of the panda clan and as such she has a greater latitude of experience than her many zoo bound relatives. Mela meets some of her mountain dwelling neighbors -- a takin, snow leopard, red panda and the goatlike goral, plays and cuddles with mother until the latter is captured by hunters, raids a farmer's beehives and finally mates with a young male. With Kazue Mizumura's furry black and white panda family, this makes for a more playful approach than those of Lynn Martin, Ruth Belov Gross and Irmengarde Eberle, to be enjoyed wherever this popular animal is still in demand.