Escaped Bronx Zoo cobra named Mia for 'missing in action'

The winning name announced was selected from 33,000 nominations made in an online contest launched by the zoo and the New York Daily News.

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Reuters

Thu, Apr 07 2011 at 1:13 PM

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WHAT’S IN A NAME?: No matter what her given name, the adolescent female snake may always be known to many as @BronxZoosCobra, a fake Twitter account about the snake's imagined escapades which now has nearly 240,000 followers. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

NEW YORK - The venomous Egyptian cobra that crawled its way to worldwide fame by escaping its enclosure at New York's Bronx Zoo for a week has been given a name — Mia as in "missing in action."

The winning name announced on Thursday by zoo officials was selected from 33,000 nominations made in an online contest launched by the zoo and the New York Daily News.

There were five finalists — Agnes, Amaunet, Cleopatra, Subira and Mia.

No matter what her given name, the adolescent female snake may always be known to many as @BronxZoosCobra, a fake Twitter account about the snake's imagined escapades which now has nearly 240,000 followers.

During her disappearance last month, the tweets focused on her alleged jaunts to New York's tourist attractions.

Since her recapture in the Reptile House just a short distance from her cage, the tweets have focused on her life behind bars and hatching plans for her next escape.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; editing by Barbara Goldberg and Ellen Wulfhorst)

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