The two main characters are named after the film's screenwriters.
"Strange Wilderness" began its life in the 1990's as a series of independently produced short videos by former "Saturday Night Live" writers Fred Wolf and Peter Gaulke. "They started out as little parodies of wildlife shows," explains writer and producer Gaulke. "Fred and I went out and shot them with the help of John Burrud, who actually has a real-life wildlife show. His father Bill used to host 'Animal World' and other travel and nature shows back in the '60s. So John helped us produce these little shorts which we eventually got onto Comedy Central."
When the vultures are eating the zebra, the zebra "responds" with "Oh my God, oh my God." That's a clip from the movie Super Troopers (2001). Paul Soter says is while his character is "flashing" Marisa Coughlan outside of the police station, while on the phone with her.