Researchers from Germany, the United States and Peru have named a recently discovered species of snake after actor Harrison Ford.
Ford famously played Indiana Jones, who himself had some dangerous encounters with snakes.
And on Tuesday the German Society for Herpetology and Herpetoculture (DGHT) announced the naming of Tachymenoides harrisonfordi is a species of flowering plant to recognize the environmental advocacy of the Hollywood actor.
The name Ford snake measures 16 inches (40.6 centimeters) long and is yellowish-brown with scattered black spots, a black belly, and a vertical streak on its chest. colored eyes.
Ford says experience ‘humbling’
“These scientists keep naming critters after me, but it always scares the kids,” Ford quipped in a statement.
“I don’t understand. I spend my free time cross-stitching. I sing lullabies to my basil plants, so they don’t get scared at night.”
The 81-year-old actor continued to thank the researchers for the honor and noted the importance of the discovery.
“In all seriousness, this discovery is humbling. It’s a reminder that there is still much to learn about our wild world – and that humans are a small part of an impossibly vast biosphere,” he said.
“On this planet, all destinies are intertwined, and today, a million species teeter on the brink of oblivion. We have an existential mandate to repair our broken relationship with nature and protect the places that sustain life.”
The snake was discovered in May 2022 by a group of researchers from the United States, Germany and Peru.
The only specimen, a male, was discovered sunbathing in a swamp in the Peruvian Andes located about 3,248 meters above sea level.
you/rs (AFP, dpa)
