“Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?” New species named in honor of Harrison Ford

A new species of snake discovered in 2022 at Otishi National Park in Peru has been coyly named in honor of Harrison Ford, who played perhaps the most famous ophidiophobic character in movie history, Indiana Jones.

It was Indy’s lament in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark that demonstrates the herpetologists’ sense of humor: “Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?”

Introducing Tachymenoides harrisonfordi: a copper and brown snake, measuring around 16 inches long, that feeds mainly on frogs and lizards.

While the origin of Henry Jones Jr.’s fear of snakes happened in his youth, as seen in 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the introduction to the world of the slitherer named in Ford’s honor came in the form of an academic paper submitted to Salamandra, The German Journal of Herpetology.

A single male snake was spotted at the park, which is located in a volatile area of the country controlled by drug cartels, the scientists explained in the paper.

After DNA and other testing, it was determined to be a never-before-seen species, and as is tradition, that gave naming rights to the scientists who discovered it.

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