--- title: Skywalker Gibbon Named After Family From Star Wars description: A team of researchers named a newly-discovered species of primates after the famous fictional clan at the center of the Star Wars franchise canonical: https://time.com/4632780/star-wars-skywalker-hoolock-gibbon/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-12T15:00:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:41:44.482Z article:section: Science og:title: This Primate Species Was Named After Luke Skywalker From 'Star Wars' og:description: Researchers say around 200 of the species live in China og:url: https://time.com/4632780/star-wars-skywalker-hoolock-gibbon/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b129acc525e902d/6988b54d196cf42da003e75e/adult-female-hoolock-tianxing-c-fan-pengfei.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: adult-female-hoolock-tianxing-c-fan-pengfei og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Primate Species Was Named After Luke Skywalker From 'Star Wars' twitter:description: Researchers say around 200 of the species live in China twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b129acc525e902d/6988b54d196cf42da003e75e/adult-female-hoolock-tianxing-c-fan-pengfei.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Newly-Discovered Primate Species Was Named After Luke Skywalker From _Star Wars_ > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 12, 2017 3:00 PM UTC  Adult female Skywalker hoolock gibbon. Adult female Skywalker hoolock gibbon. Fan Peng-Fei/ZSL  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jan 12, 2017 3:00 PM UTC A team of researchers named a newly-discovered species of primates in eastern Myanmar and southwestern China after the famous fictional clan at the center of the _Star Wars_ franchise. Scientists published their discovery of the skywalker hoolock gibbon in the _American Journal of Primatology_ this week after new research distinguished the animal from closely-related gibbons. Researchers say around 200 of the species live in China. More live in a few surrounding countries, but the numbers have been difficult to count elsewhere. > [](https://twitter.com/HamillHimself/status/819107402175782912) Researchers named the new species Skywalker in tribute to _Star Wars_ hero Luke Skywalker and his relatives. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4632780/star-wars-skywalker-hoolock-gibbon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4632780/star-wars-skywalker-hoolock-gibbon/"},"headline":"This Newly-Discovered Primate Species Was Named After Luke Skywalker From Star Wars","datePublished":"2017-01-12T15:00:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:41:44.482Z","description":"Researchers say around 200 of the species live in China","url":"https://time.com/4632780/star-wars-skywalker-hoolock-gibbon/","keywords":["animals","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b129acc525e902d/6988b54d196cf42da003e75e/adult-female-hoolock-tianxing-c-fan-pengfei.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b129acc525e902d/6988b54d196cf42da003e75e/adult-female-hoolock-tianxing-c-fan-pengfei.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"adult-female-hoolock-tianxing-c-fan-pengfei","caption":"Adult female Skywalker hoolock gibbon.","creditText":"Fan Peng-Fei/ZSL","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4632780/star-wars-skywalker-hoolock-gibbon/","name":"This Newly-Discovered Primate Species Was Named After Luke Skywalker From Star Wars"}}]}] ```