6A / NEWS / WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2011 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
@BronxZoosCobra tweets about his daily adventures in the Bronx
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — The Bronx Zoo may still be looking for its missing cobra, but a tongue-in-cheek Twitter user is charting its supposed progress.
Someone using the handle @ BronxZoosCobra has been tweeting to a quickly growing number of followers — more than 85,000 by early Tuesday evening. In contrast
with the user posing as the 20-inch, highly venomous snake, the Bronx Zoo had about 6,000 followers.
"On top of the Empire State Building!" BronxZoosCobra posted. "All the people look like little
mice down there. Delicious little mice."
Tweets included one about "Sex and the City": "I'm totally a SSSamanta."
Another entry riffed on the weather and New Yorkers' fears of
"The difficulty is that the 20-inch, pencil-thin snake, which is months old and weighs less than 3 ounces, has sought out a secure hiding
hiding in the Reptile House but conceded that finding it would be difficult.
the sithering escapee: "It's getting pretty cold out. I think it's probably time to crash. Oh look, an apartment window someone left open just a crack. Perfect!"
"All the people look like little mice down there. Delicious little mice."
@BRONXZOOSCOBRA
Perfect:
The Reptile House at the Bronx Zoo, run by the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society, closed Friday after zoo workers searched but did not find the Egyptian cobra. Zoo officials said Monday they were confident the snake was
spot within the Reptile House," the zoo said, describing it as a "complex environment with pumps, motors and other mechanical systems."
The user
b e h i n d
BronxZoosCobra refused to identify himself or herself or say who was typing the tweets.
"The iPhone touch screen works just as well with a tail," the person said in an email to The Associated Press signed, "Thanksss."
The only twitter account the snake was following was the one belonging to the Bronx Zoo, @ TheBronxZoo. The zoo's account tweeted one message on Monday saying it understands the interest in the story.
the story.
"Right now," the zoo said, "it's the snake's game."
jeff Corwin, a wildlife expert for the Animal Planet cable network, said the snake may be small but "has very toxic venom" and "should be respected."
It's unlikely that the cobra, accustomed to a subtropical climate, would survive very long in the Northeast cold if it leaves the Reptile House, Corwin said.
Asked how the snake was faring in the cold, the user behind the Twitter account said: "Hiding in passerbys' scarves has been working for me so far, but I'm thinking about heading to a sauna to warm up for a bit."