Simone WilsonIt's hard to avoid press releases when they're slathered in promises of adorable zoo animals. And, uh, comparing adorable zoo animals to Star Wars characters? No fair. We're putty in your PR campaign.
So yeah, this Saturday is Star Wars Day at the L.A. Zoo — the best thing to happen to the L.A. Zoo since elephant porn on Valentine's Day.
There will be actual Star Wars characters present at the 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. event (the non-burlesque kind; sorry)…
… in case you're having Comic-Con withdrawals and are prepared to mingle with what we imagine to be a very strangely mixed crowd of animal nerds and George Lucas nerds and freakish hybrids of the two.
Anyway, the main events (in our opinion) go down at 11:30 a.m. at the Australia exhibit, then 1:30 p.m. at Elephants of Asia & Red Ape Rainforest and 2:30 p.m. at Tiger Plaza. Here's what you'll get, for $14:
“Learn how Jabba the Hutt and Jabba (the L.A. Zoo's hippo) are similar and how Ewoks and koalas are different. There are plenty of similarities and differences between many Star Wars creatures and animals at the Zoo. Education Specialists team up with Star Wars characters to create an out of this world learning experience.”
And here are some of the Lucas creations/zoo animals they'll be comparing, nicely illustrated via the Zoo and Wookieepedia:
Bantha & Billy the Asian elephant
Dewback & Komodo Dragon
Ewok & Koala (“Koalas may be small in size, but they eat approximately two and a half to three lbs. of foliage daily. Their diet consists only of eucalyptus. They have the ability to digest the highly toxic leaf,” brags the Zoo. Beat that, Ewok.)
Gamorrean & Visayan Warty Pig