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@tarongazoo/Twitter

Zoos celebrate Valentine’s Day with adorable pun-off

These exotic animals are otterly adorable.

 

Alex Dalbey

IRL

Posted on Feb 14, 2019   Updated on May 20, 2021, 7:07 pm CDT

Valentine’s Day isn’t universally adored; there are arguments to be made against commercialism, sugar, and an overvaluing of romantic love. But there is one aspect of the holiday we can all agree is a net positive for our culture: the flirty puns.

Even those among us who stubbornly hold out against the comedic value of puns may be swayed by the addition of interesting animals. This year for Valentine’s Day, zoos all around the globe shared their best romantic animal and zoo-themed puns with each other, using the hashtag #Vdaypunoff.

All of the punning started with Australian zoos and wildlife organizations. Taronga Zoo tweeted a twist on the classic “roses are red” rhyme and tagged several zoos, saying, “it’s Valentine’s Day and we challenge you! #VDayPunOff.” The tagged organizations joined in and tagged others, and the Valentine’s Day pun-off quickly spread across Australia.

The Valentine’s cheer has since spread across the world, with zoos from San Diego to Bali participating. One of the highlights is a video of three-week-old river otter pups from the National Zoo, accompanied with the Valentine’s Day pun “You *otter* be our #Valentine.”

https://twitter.com/NationalZoo/status/1096064698192220161

https://twitter.com/zoo_bali/status/1096020915526062083

Another highlight was the number of zoos who came together to riff on animal puns in various threads. The best started with the Perth Zoo tweeting “Will you Galapago on a date with me?”

Auckland Zoo and Zoos Victoria joined in the game, “flirting” back with their own animals and puns.

Not all of the animals are super cute, but some of their names lend themselves to ridiculous puns. Taronga Zoo so far has showed off the most unique animals and hilarious puns.

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be panda-monium, whether you’re in a relationship or not. It can be as simple as reading seal-y puns on the internet or sharing them with that special someone ewe love.

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*First Published: Feb 14, 2019, 10:20 am CST