Chicago zoo’s baby camel ‘Alexander Camelton’ a social media star

By Amy Tennery

(Reuters) – A month-old Bactrian camel named Alexander Camelton at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo has become a social media star.

The gangly brown camel has Twitter abuzz over his name, a play on Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States and the inspiration for the smash Broadway musical “Hamilton.”

“We’ve been very surprised with the reaction we’ve gotten on social media,” Lincoln Park Zoological Manager Dan Boehm said on Tuesday.

Boehm described Alexander Camelton, the first Bactrian camel born at the zoo since 1998, as very precocious and said he was adjusting very well.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote and stars in “Hamilton,” posted an emoji of a camel and a blushing face on Twitter in recognition of baby Camelton.

Other social media users had fun with the camel’s name.

“It’s going to be really awkward when Alexander Camelton dies in a duel with Aaron Brrrr the Penguin,” tweeted Mike Sager (@msager) on Monday, referring to Aaron Burr, who mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton in a duel 1804.

“Soon all the zoo animals will have ‘Hamilton’ names. Alexander Camelton. Salamander Hamilton. Alexander Lambilton. Lin-Manuel the Panda,” tweeted Fusion Senior Editor Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono).

(Reporting By Amy Tennery)