As valiant as cinematic adventurer Indiana Jones has been portrayed by Harrison Ford on the big screen for the last four decades, the fictional professor of archaeology, like most well-written heroes, has his weaknesses. One, of course, is his fear of snakes. You would be, too, if faced with a pit full of venomous Asps like he is in the 1981 classic, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
That’s why it’s so ironic that a slithery snake has recently been named in Ford’s honor. According to The Hollywood Reporter, researchers from Peru and the United States have discovered a new species of snake in Peru’s Andes mountains and have named it after the Hollywood star.
The Tachymenoides harrisonfordi is a slender, pale yellowish-brown and black snake that is approximately 16 inches long. This isn’t the first time Ford has been named after something in the animal kingdom either. The Pheidole harrisonfordi is a species of ant that lives mostly in the countries of Honduras, Belize, Colombia, Panama, Guatemala and southern Mexico. The Calponia harrisonfordi is a species of spider that is only found in California.
“These scientists keep naming critters after me, but it’s always the ones that terrify children,” Ford said jokingly. “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 added: “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. 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.”
Ford has played Indiana Jones in five films. His last, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, was released this summer.