Here's a slippery story if ever we saw one. A 24-in. (61 cm) Egyptian cobra went on the loose at the Bronx Zoo in March, scaring the bejesus out of everyone nearby. A frantic, days-long search thankfully resulted in finding the snake simply residing in a dark corner of the reptile house, just 200 ft. (61 m) from her cage.
Nevertheless, the missing-snake story became an online sensation. One clever chap set up a Twitter account — @BronxZoosCobra — that spat out zingers with unbridled relish ("Does anyone know if the Whole Foods in Columbus Circle sells organic mice?") and gained more than 200,000 followers. There would be an "appearance" on Conan when the snake, ahem, took out the keyboardist, to say nothing of a Facebook campaign for the snake to host Saturday Night Live (cue the "Well, there's been worse" remarks).