Experts say the atlas will be of great help in the study and protection of pandas.

With the help of a microscopic analyzer that can magnify things 20,000 times their actual size, two cytologist from Chinese Medical Sciences University created the atlas after conducting a long-term study of the blood cells and monocytes of healthy pandas at Beijing Zoo.

People now can quickly find out whether a panda is ill or what diseases it is suffering from, by comparing it with the atlas in terms of shape, number and color of the cells in a tiny drop of blood drawn from the panda, according to the experts.

In addition to pandas, they have so far created blood atlases for over 40 of the endangered wild animals including Siberian tigers and golden monkeys.

Panda is one of the rarest kinds of animals and is on the verge of extinction, and at present there are only about 1,000 that live exclusively in China.

(Xinhua 01/11/2001)