An “Indiana Jones” character’s well-known connection to snakes and his utter hatred for them has inspired researchers to name a new snake found in the Andes mountains after the actor who plays him, Harrison Ford.
The new species of snake was discovered in May in Peru by researchers who have named the reptile Tachymenoides harrisonfordi, with Harrison Ford calling the experience “humbling,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“These scientists keep naming critters after me, but it’s always the ones that terrify children,” Ford said. “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,”
“In all seriousness, this discovery is humbling,” he added. “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.”
“On this planet, all fates are intertwined, and right now, one million species are teetering on the edge of oblivion,” Ford continued. “We have an existential mandate to mend our broken relationship with nature and protect the places that sustain life.”
American and Peruvian researchers have only located one of these species, which is described as a slender, pale yellowish-brown snake with black splotches, measuring 16 inches long. They said they named the snake after Ford to honor his decades-long environmental advocacy, the outlet noted.
As Ford said, the snake isn’t the first critter to be named after him — researchers named an ant (Pheidole harrisonfordi) and a spider (Calponia harrisonfordi) after the actor, the outlet noted.
Ford has long been linked to the slimy creatures following his iconic line in the first Indiana Jones film, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and scenes with them throughout the franchise.
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“I hate snakes, Jock. I hate ’em!” Indiana Jones said at the beginning of the first film.
“Snakes,” he added later. “Why’d it have to be snakes?”
In the sequel, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” Ford’s character once again reiterates his disdain for the creatures when he’s served the disturbing “snake surprise” at Pankot Palace.
In the third film in the franchise, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” Indy’s character endures a flashback where he’s on a train and ends up in the reptile car and submerged in crates of snakes.