There is now no longer any reason Why Shanghai residents who wonder what the giant panda looks like should not have their curiosity satisfied. Recently, there has been placed on exhibition in the Shanghai Museum in the building of the Royal Asiatic Society at 20 Museum Road a mounted specimen of a young giant panda, It is to be seen in the foyer of the 3rd Floor of the building any day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and visitors are welcome, there being no charge for admittance.
This specimen, which shows clearly the remarkable features of this strange ud rare animal, was presented to the Museum some time ago by Mrs. W. H. Harkness and Mr. "Quentin Young, who were the first to secure a live baby giant panda, which was successfully taken by Mrs. Harkness to America and placed on public view in the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.
Considerable controversy has taken place of late as to the rarity of the giant panda and whether or not it 4s being threatened with extermination through the excessive and unlimited hunting to which it is being subjected as a result of the big demand for specimens, especially living specimens, in Europe and America.
Altogether, since Mrs. Harkness took her first baby giant panda to America. nine living specimens have been shipped out of China, but a great many more have been killed in the process of securing these, and there can be no question that, if this kind of thing had been allowed to go on unchecked, the giant panda would soon have become extinct, for, in spite of anything that may be said to the contrary by those interested in the exportation of these animals from China, it is a very rare species.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.