New snake species named after Hollywood actor Harrison Ford
Researchers named a new snake species discovered in Peru's Andes mountains after the Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford on Tuesday. The species called Tachymenoides harrisonfordi, is named after Ford to honor his environmental advocacy. Ford, who holds the position of the vice chair of the non-profit group Conservation International, also has an ant and a spider named after him.
What does the snake look like?
Ford's namesake snake measures 16 inches long. It has a yellowish-brown color with black blotches, a black belly, and a vertical streak over its copper-colored eye. Scientists from Germany, the United States and Peru worked together to find this snake. They found only one male snake in May 2022 while it was sunbathing in a swamp in Otishi National Park.
Ford thanked the researchers for the honor
"These scientists keep naming critters after me, but it's always the ones that terrify children," Ford playfully told Conservation International. "I don't understand. I spend my free time cross-stitching. I sing lullabies to my basil plants, so they won't fear the night," he adds. The actor, 81, then expressed his gratitude to the researchers for the honor and highlighted the importance of the discovery.
This discovery is humbling: Ford
"In all seriousness, this discovery is humbling. It's a reminder that there's still so much to learn about our wild world — and that humans are one small part of an impossibly vast biosphere," said the veteran actor.
Unlike Indiana Jones, Ford is fond of snakes
Unlike his role as Indiana Jones, who hates snakes, Ford has consistently expressed his fondness for snakes. It seems like he felt an immediate connection with this particular snake. "The snake's got eyes you can drown in, and he spends most of the day sunning himself by a pool of dirty water — we probably would've been friends in the early '60s," Ford exclaimed.
Spider and an ant named after him as well
It was in 1993 that a new species received its name inspired by Ford - the Calponia harrisonfordi, a spider native to California. Later on, an ant was named after him too, called Pheidole harrisonfordi. A recent study, co-authored by Conservation International, discovered that reptiles are at high risk of facing extinction, with more than one-fifth of reptile types currently under threat.
Finding will draw attention to extinction crisis
Edgar Lehr, the project's chief scientist, highlighted, "For a biologist, describing a new species and making it public with its new name is one of the most vital activities during the biodiversity crisis." "Only organisms that are known can be protected," Lehr added. He hopes that the finding will shine a light on the global issue of species facing extinction.
