Five days ago, employees of the Bronx Zoo in New York discovered that a venomous Egyptian cobra was missing from its habitat. The incident has caused more laughter than panic, though, thanks to a comical Twitter account that’s getting all sorts of attention.
“Bronx Zoo’s Cobra” adopts the perspective of the escaped snake, and has the creature more or less taking a tour of the city. Regular tweets put it at museums (“Holding very still in the snake exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. This is gonna be hilarious!”) and other famous spots (“Rockefeller Plaza is amaz….wait…OMG! Tina Fey totally just walked by me! HUUUGE FAN!”).
The account’s become quite popular; at the moment, the Bronx Zoo’s Cobra has more than 154,000 followers. Many of the snake’s fans are famous, too.
As you can see below, the official Bergdorf Goodman Twitter account has reached out to the Bronx Zoo’s Cobra, and so has the official Sesame Street account. Steve Martin and Ellen DeGeneres have also joined in the fun.
@Bergdorfs
Bergdorf Goodman@dkny @BronxZoosCobra it’s a good time to visit, you know. Our resident mongoose is on holiday & we’ve some great events taking place
1 day ago via web · powered by @socialditto
@SteveMartinToGo
Steve MartinPhone rings. Caller ID: Bronx Zoo. I put on King Tut hat, ready for action. It’s the snake. Hard to hear. Lots of hissing on line. 1 day ago via web · powered by @socialditto
@TheEllenShow
Ellen DeGeneresHey @BronxZoosCobra you should check out the Guggenheim Museum. They have a great Kandinsky exhibit. They also don’t have any stairs. 21 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
@sesamestreet
Sesame StreetThe @bronxzooscobra is visiting places around New York City. Can anyone tell it how to get to Sesame Street? 5 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
All this excitement could result in a contract (or at least a couple of talk show appearances) for whoever’s behind the Twitter account, adding a bit more meaning to the phrase “Twitter famous.” And some New Yorkers may well sign up for their own Twitter accounts in order to keep up with the snake’s imaginary escapades.
Of course, there’s likely going to be a limit on how much fun everyone can have, since zookeepers do believe they’ll be able to recapture the escaped cobra sooner or later.