'Panda taxis' a hit on London streets
Millions of tourists flocking to London for the Olympic Games this summer can also learn more about China's giant pandas - not by visiting a zoo, but by taking a ride in one of London's iconic black taxies.
Black-and-white stripes have been painted on 30 taxis to mimic the look of a panda, and another 20 feature a cartoon panda in its natural habitat surrounded by bamboo. Both designs feature the slogan "Chengdu, hometown of pandas, spice it up".
Painting pandas on central London taxies is the latest campaign to raise awareness of the endangered Chinese animal. The campaign is jointly run by London Taxi Advertising and the Chengdu Association for Cultural Exchange with Foreign Countries in Chengdu, Sichuan province, which is home to more than 80 percent of the world's panda population.