Gibbon Research Paper

602 Words2 Pages

A third species of gibbon was discovered in China, and to celebrate their love of all things Star Wars related, the scientists who made the discovery decided to name the gibbon after the Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker. That would be interesting if that was all there was to the explanation about the gibbon's name, but it is not exactly the whole truth about the endangered species, or about why fans of Star Wars have become enamored of photos of the skywalker hoolock gibbon. NPR reported that the Chinese team of scientists, led by Professor Fan Pengfei from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, and including experts from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), who named the gibbon species the skywalker hoolock gibbon have an alternative name for …show more content…

Since there are no Chinese characters that translate to mean Luke Skywalker, hoolock tianxing is the Chinese name for the newly-discovered gibon species. The Chinese scientists who named the new gibbon species used characters that, instead, mean "Heaven's movement." CNET reported that "heaven's movement," refers to how the rare gibbon species moves, to the gibbons unique locomotory mode. The Luke Skywalker gibbons swings and leaps through trees and finds itself among some of the fastest moving tree-dwelling mammals. According to CNN, Samuel Turvey of ZSL, a member of the research team, further explained the name given to the gibbon species. Turvey said, the Star Wars-inspired name for the gibbon species points to their behavior of moving rapidly through the canopy of the forest. It also points to an ancient Chinese belief that the primates were highly venerated, almost mystical creatures that were above regular animals. Turvey called an increased awareness of the remarkable Gaoligong mountains ecosystem and for improved conservation is a necessity. He added that more research involving the skywalker hoolock gibbons should be undertaken soon, in order to learn more about this new species before it disappears for

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