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Harrison Ford doesn't get why scientists are naming animals that 'terrify children' after him: 'I spend my free time cross-stitching'

Callie Ahlgrim   

Harrison Ford doesn't get why scientists are naming animals that 'terrify children' after him: 'I spend my free time cross-stitching'
  • A new species of snake in Peru has been named after Harrison Ford.
  • Ford, who has also inspired the name of an ant and a spider, called the discovery "humbling."

Harrison Ford has added a new species of snake to his collection of namesakes.

The copper-and-black reptile was discovered in Peru's Andes mountains and christened Tachymenoides harrisonfordi, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Although Ford described the discovery as "humbling," he also said he was confused by the name.

"These scientists keep naming critters after me, but it's always the ones that terrify children," he told THR. "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."

Ford previously inspired the name of an ant, Pheidole harrisonfordi, which is primarily found in Honduras, and a Californian spider, Calponia harrisonfordi.

The 81-year-old actor has long been an advocate for environmentalism and serves as vice chair of Conservation International. But he's best known for his roles as Han Solo in "Star Wars" and the titular hero in "Indiana Jones," who shares Ford's distaste for slithery creatures.

"Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?" he famously grumbles in "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark."

"In all seriousness, this discovery is humbling," Ford said in a statement. "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."

He added: "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."

The discovery was led by biology professor Edgar Lehr of Illinois Wesleyan University, according to Conservation International.

Scientists from Peru and the US teamed up for the trek into Peru's Otishi National Park, where they found just one male snake of the Tachymenoides harrisonfordi variety, sunbathing in the little-explored grasslands.

Despite encountering danger on their mission — including a near-encounter with narco-traffickers in the region known as "Peru's cocaine valley" — Lehr told Conservation International that it was all worth it.

"Discovering new species, including Harrison Ford's snake, is always worth it," he said.



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