The Force is very SQUEEEEEEEEE with us today, for sure.
A new species of primate has been discovered, and it turns out that the scientists who named it are ‘Star Wars’ fans, because it’s named after Luke Skywalker.
They’re called the Skywalker hoolock gibbon, and goddamn they are ACTUALLY adorable.
LOOK AT THEM!
Zoological Society of London‘s Dr Sam Turvey was part of the team studying the apes. He told BBC News:
“In this area, so many species have declined or gone extinct because of habitat loss, hunting and general human overpopulation.So it’s an absolute privilege to see something as special and as rare as a gibbon in a canopy in a Chinese rainforest, and especially when it turns out that the gibbons are actually a new species previously unrecognised by science.”
The gibbons all have white eyebrows (and some have white beards, JUST LIKE LUKE SKYWALKER DOES IN ‘THE FORCE AWAKENS’!), and their songs and mating calls are different to all other species. They’re found in Bangladesh, India, China and Myanmar.
Mark Hamill is absolutely in love with the gibbons that have been named after his character in ‘Star Wars’, and has been retweeting a bunch of stories and images of them.
So proud of this! First the Pez dispenser, then the Underoos & U.S. postage stamp… now this! #GorillaMyDreams #SimianSkywalker #JungleJedi https://t.co/JKCe5kZFmJ
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) January 11, 2017
Our favourite thing of all time, however, are the tweets where people have compared photos of Luke to photos of the gibbons:
.@HamillHimself I can defintely see a resemblence! ?????? #MonkeyMark #CheekyChimps #ZoologicallyIncorrectHashtags pic.twitter.com/Kk4UHn6zaX
— Haminals (@HamillAnimals) January 11, 2017
It’s uncanny really! ?????? #JungleJedi pic.twitter.com/ok6SknBzpj
— Haminals (@HamillAnimals) January 11, 2017
Ok maybe just one more… ???? pic.twitter.com/QplELVm61a
— Haminals (@HamillAnimals) January 11, 2017
We totally get why Hamill is so enamoured with his new lil primate pals: Luke Skywalker has a bunch of experience with fuzzy creatures. In fact, he was actually trained by one.
May the force be with you, tiny wee gibbons. We love you.
Source: BBC.
Photos: Fan Peng-Fei via BBC.