Alexander Camelton: Chicago zoo's baby camel named after Broadway hit

Its Tony Awards time and even the animals at the zoo know it now. Caregiver's at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo named their newest resident Alexander Camelton after the hit Broadway musical Hamilton about one of America's founding fathers.

Authorities announced the name of the month-old Bactrian camel on International Ungulate Day, which is held to celebrate hoofed animals.

"We had a keeper who just tossed the name out and it kind of just stuck," said Jillian Braun, public relations manager for the zoo. "Everyone likes a good pun."

Soon after the calf was born, social media picked up of the gangly baby camel with the famous name, and since then, the bull calf has become an internet star. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda also got in on the action and tweeted a link to the news.

"We've been very surprised with the reaction we've gotten on social media," Lincoln Park Zoological manager Dan Boehm said on 7 June.

Nasan, one of the zoo's resident camels gave birth to Camelton on 9 May, making him the first one to be born there since 1998. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Bactrian camels are a critically endangered species.

While Chicago's newest four-legged star was 4 feet tall and 81 pounds at birth, he could grow up to reach 7 feet in height and weigh approximately 1,500 pounds.

As if the naming was not a superb nod to Hamilton, the musical has itself earned 16 Tony Awards nominations and is sure to take home some wins at the awards evening on 12 June. The ceremony will be held at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.