Vanessa's Journal

Jan. 27

Today, the field team reported that there are red pandas and tufted deer tracks near some of the cages. They said the animals have been walking back and forth checking out the cages.  I wonder what they are thinking. 

I’m still on Chapter 4 of the third panda survey book.  I tend to get a little hung up on some of the Chinese place names, so progress has been slow (but steady). Today I read a lot about the different highway systems and how they are fragmenting panda habitat in Sichuan.  It is rather depressing.  I was having some trouble visualizing all of the areas that were talked about in the book, but Lao Wang brought some clarity on this subject in his detailed rendition of the local highway structure at lunchtime.  He seems to have it all figured out in his head.  It’s good to have some ‘local expertise’ to supplement what I’m reading.