Indiana Jones may have had ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes, but Harrison Ford does not particularly hate them. In fact, Ford said in his younger days, he might have made friends with the new species named after him.
“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 said, in a statement to Conservation International.
The new species, named Tachymenoides harrisonfordi after the actor, was discovered in the Andes mountains in Peru, according to a statement by Conservation International. Details about the snake, its discovery and its naming were published in the scientific journal Salamandra.
As USA Today reports, researchers said they named the new species after Ford in recognition of his decades-long environmental advocacy through his role as the vice chair of Conservation International and for raising his voice for nature.
Researchers from Peru and the U.S. discovered the reptile – one male snake – in May 2022, sun-basking in a swamp within the Otishi National Park area in Peru’s Andes, said Conservation International.
The newly named species is a type of slender snake measuring 16 inches long when fully grown. It is pale yellowish-brown and has black blotches scattered on its skin, a black belly, and a vertical streak over its copper-colored eye, allowing it to camouflage itself in its surroundings. It feeds on a diet of lizards and frogs.
“These scientists keep naming critters after me, but it’s always the ones that terrify children,” said Ford, 81, in a statement. “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.”
This is the third animal species to be named after Ford. Earlier, an ant (Pheidole harrisonfordi) and a spider (Calponia harrisonfordi) were named after him. The slender snake is his first reptile namesake.
However, he was humbled by the honor, saying that the discovery is a reminder that there is so much more to learn about the world and that humans are just a small part of an “impossibly vast biosphere”.
“On this planet, all fates are intertwined, and right now, one million species are teetering on the edge of oblivion. We have an existential mandate to mend our broken relationship with nature and protect the places that sustain life,” he added.
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