'Zoboomafoo' Lemur Passes Away

I don't care what anyone says: we had way better children's shows in the late '90s and early '00s — and, no, I'm not just talking about Blue's Clues and spiritual successor Dora the Explorer. Oh sure, the eponymous star of the latter might be a big enough deal to hang out with Ariana Grande at the 2013 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but what about those quiet sleeper hits, those niche shows that you don't remember you watched until someone brings it up? I'm talking about Zoboomafoo, a show about a talking lemur nicknamed "Zoboo" and the Kratt brothers palling around with wild animals in Animal Junction. And — brace your childhood for this — Zoboomafoo has passed away.

That's right, the lemur himself is gone. According to TV Line and confirmed by PBS, Zoboo — whose real name was Jovian — passed away on Monday in the Duke Lemur Center at the age of 20, leaving behind a partner named Pia, a brother named Julian, seven children, and four grandchildren. Zoboomafoo may not be the regular staple on television that it once was in the early '00s, but it's absolutely unbelievable that the central star — the Zoboo whose face makes up all of the merchandising — could be gone. He seemed like he would live forever, immortalized as he was on our television screens and in our young hearts.

Considering tuning in to Zoboomafoo every week probably inspired an entire generation of aspiring veterinarians and wildlife specialists to learn more about animals than just what they could learn in a half-hour of "me and you and Zoboomafoo," this is really a shocking blow. You don't need to look any further for evidence of that than Twitter, where grown up former fans of the show have been mourning the loss of its central star on Wednesday morning since the news broke.

Image: jntx95/Twitter