Why did it have to be snakes?
Harrison Ford’s iconic character Indiana Jones might fear and hate snakes, but the star was enthusiastic to be the namesake for a newly-discovered snake species.
“This discovery is humbling,” Ford, 81, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Ford was referring to a newly-discovered snake species that is now called “Tachymenoides harrisonfordi.”
It was found in the Andes mountains in Peru, as a collaboration between researchers in Peru and the United States. Although it was discovered in May 2022, the information about the snake’s name was not made public until today, in the scientific journal Salamandra.
The snake is yellow, brown and copper in color with stripes, and is 16 inches long. It is reportedly harmless to humans but eats lizards and frogs.
The name is partly a hat-tip to Indiana Jones and his famous fear of snakes, and partly a tribute to Ford’s environmental advocacy. Ford, who has been married to Calista Flockhart, 58, since 2010, is the vice chair of Conservation International, an organization focused on conservation news.
“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 told the organization.
He further joked, “These scientists keep naming critters after me, but it’s always the ones that terrify children. 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,” referring to the fact that he also inspired the name of the ant “Pheidole harrisonfordi” and the spider “Calponia harrisonfordi.”
The famous Indiana Jones line “Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?” is in the 1984 blockbuster, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” where it’s revealed that the fearless whip-carrying Nazi-hunting daredevil only fears one thing in this world: the slippery reptile.
Although that movie came out over three decades ago, Ford is still going strong playing Indiana Jones, most recently starring in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which is still currently in theaters.
Ford is also currently in the AppleTV drama “Shrinking,” and the Paramount+ “Yellowstone” spinoff series, “1923” with Helen Mirren, but he was snubbed by the Emmys for both shows – even though two of his “Shrinking” co-stars, Jason Segel and Jessica Williams, earned nominations this year.
Regarding the new snake species, Ford went on to say, “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.”
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