It might not be a moment that stands up there with the iconic giraffes in the first game or with the elephants in another of Naughty Dog's famed third-person action games, but the wildlife moment in The Last of Us Part 2 offers some reprieve, a gentle lull from the otherwise unrelenting grimness and violence that pervades the zombie, sorry, clicker sequel.
Firstly, do you remember the zebra? It seems even many die-hard fans of Part 2 have trouble placing the zebra scene, which occurs during Abby's part of the game, and that's perhaps due to its relative lack of emotional resonance compared to the soaring moment in the first The Last of Us, when Joel and Ellie see giraffes gliding by them at a time in the game when their elegant majesty offers a much-needed breather. However, one fan has taken the trouble to see if said zebra can be killed.
In an episode of YouTuber Speclizer's playful series that tests the limits of what's possible in The Last of Us Part 2, they found that the zebra is impervious not only to gunfire but also to powerful explosives (via Eurogamer). The second episode in their series sees the YouTuber, who often uses mods for their game experiments, take a gun to the in-game zebra. While the stripey equine does flinch it doesn't appear to take any damage. Speclizer then takes it up a notch by throwing explosives at the virtual animal, but again it is impervious, thus proving the The Last of Us Part 2's zebra is an invincible creature. It occurs around the 7:20 mark in the video.
You can watch the full video above. In it, they also take a gun to Abbey in the final moments of the game, which usually plays out only with fists, to see just how strong she really is, while they also go around trying to kill every member of the Scars, although they don't seem to be going down so much. While the YouTuber is clearly testing the limits of the game, it is quite impressive to see how Naughty Dog gave the character models enough animations to still react to in-game events even if they restrict just how much freedom is allowed.