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A photo of a giant panda cub serenely chewing on bamboo leaves while riding in the passenger cabin of a commercial airliner has been winging its way around the Internet since 2006. The earliest posting of it we've found was on a humor website called Guzer.com, where the original caption read: A press release, purportedly issued by China Airlines, was posted on the same site two years later: But as delightful though the story of Squee Squee the panda cub traveling to the U.S. in the business class section of a China Airlines airbus may be, it's not to be taken seriously. For one thing, the giant panda is an endangered species, and the whereabouts of the approximately 420 giant pandas in captivity is fairly closely monitored. We've found no record of the birth, death, or existence of a panda named Squee Squee in China, the United States, or anywhere else. For another, even when raised in captivity, giant pandas are wild animals. Some airlines allow service animals and/or pets to ride in the passenger cabin, but a giant panda would not seem to fit in either of those categories. Moreover, the emergency exit sign near where the panda is sitting appears to be written in Japanese, not Chinese. It's unlikely that this was a China Airlines airbus. Lastly, on close examination, the panda in the photo — with its cute little round button nose — does not appear to be real. Actual giant pandas have triangle-shaped noses, as shown here: The most likely explanation is that the panda on the plane is a semi-realistic stuffed doll, and that the photo was staged — by whom, we don't know — as a public relations stunt. The humorous Squee Squee story was appended as an afterthought.
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