To celebrate May 4th, San Francisco’s foremost wildlife got its hands on a $30 Baby Yoda toy to bring around the zoo.
Last week saw everyone’s favorite excuse to down three margaritas before 5 p.m. — Cinco de Mayo. But before the annual celebration of Mexico’s triumph over the Second French Empire was a day rife with all things Star Wars — May 4th. (It’s a nod to “May the force be with you” lines of dialogue found throughout the Lucasfilm-produced, mega-popular movies and television shows.)
In a cheeky ode to the evergreen adorableness of The Madalorian’s Grogu — “Baby Yoda,” in more common circles — the San Francisco Zoo let some of its fauna interact with a Baby Yoda doll to celebrate the day… while offering some otherworldly enrichment.
“Look who visited #sfzoo this week in honor of Star Wars Day!” the wildlife park captioned in an Instagram post.
The uploaded video begins with the Baby Yoda plush gliding down the zoo’s playground areas designated for human children. Soon after, one of the zoo’s resident snow leopards is seen curiously checking out the alien plush — an item that looks lightyears away from its natural range in the Himalayas.
Other animals, however, appeared unbothered by the Baby Yoda toy. A member of the SF Zoo’s colony of koalas treats the vibrant green plaything with a level of palpable ambivalence; a wolverine, which is a naturally solitary animal, doesn’t even recognize its lifeless presence.
That said: Other exotic fauna that call the SF Zoo home did enjoy Baby Yoda’s little meet-and-greet.
The Lipman Family Lemur Forest, which is the largest exhibit of its kind anywhere in the country, had troops of ringtails curiously fawning over it, as well as a few blue-eyed black lemurs inspecting the plush-like toy. The SF Zoo’s resident sifaka — close cousins of the lemur that are distinguished by their affinity for bipedal means of locomotion — seemed to have the most fun with it, rolling around in Grogu’s life-sized cradle, inspired by the floating orb the small creature uses in the Disney+ show.
Grogu is also seen saddling up to a collection of frogs; if you’re a show fan, you know this is a precarious situation for the unaware amphibians.
In a world that seems increasingly on the verge of collapse, it’s nice to find brief bouts of escapism like this to help buy us through these days.
May the 4th be with you all, forever and always. Now get some fresh air… and, perhaps, plan your next visit to the San Francisco Zoo.
For more information on the San Francisco Zoo including membership and admission info, visit www.sfzoo.org.
