NEW SPECIES ALERT!

A study published in the American Journal of Primatology this month has described a new species of hoolock gibbon ranging in eastern Myanmar and southwestern China.

Now these aren't an entirely new group of animals never seen before, but researchers looking at their pelage colouration and song patterns have determined that certain gibbons previously identified as Hoolock leucogenys are actually distinctive enough from other leucogenys species to warrant a new name classification.

The new scientific name is: Hoolock tianxing and the new common name they recommend is: "Skywalker Hoolock Gibbon".

A Direct Connection To Star Wars?

Well it just so happens, as the authors explain in their paper, that "tianxing" means heaven's movement or skywalker in mainland Chinese phonetic alphabet - a name they picked referring to the unique mode of locomotion gibbons use termed: brachiation.... But we also happen to know that principal investigator Peng-Fei Fan and his colleagues are also huge Star Wars fans 😉

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