April 1, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
The staff at the Bronx Zoo noticed an adolescent Egyptian cobra was missing from its enclosure last Friday and closed the reptile exhibit. By the time the snake was found Thursday, a Twitter account run by someone claiming to be the serpent was exchanging tweets with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Ellen DeGeneres.
The parody account, @BronxZoosCobra, had more than 190,000 followers by the time the real snake was found hiding in the reptile house Thursday. It has been mentioned on the Twitter accounts of the film director Jon Favreau, the comedian Steve Martin, the department store Bergdorf Goodman, the New York Hilton, and others.
The account, which was not set up by the zoo, used the voice of the snake on a tour of New York’s attractions. Its first message was posted on Monday.
“I want to thank those animals from the movie “Madagascar.” They were a real inspiration,” it said.
In an only-on-Twitter moment, the snake’s account now has more than 20 times more followers than the zoo’s, though that’s not to say the zoo’s presence hasn’t grown since the escape. Its account, @TheBronxZoo, has added more than 4,500 followers since Monday, according to TwitterCounter.com.
The zoo’s official account is the only one the “cobra” follows.
The zoo, part of the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society, posted only brief messages about the snake while it was missing: One tweet and a Facebook message on Monday, both linking to a press release about the closure of the exhibit. The snake’s capture was announced much the same way.
An e-mail sent to the parody Twitter account was not answered.
