Skywalker hoolock gibbon
The Skywalker hoolock gibbon or Gaoligong hoolock gibbon is a primate in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae. It is one of three species of hoolock gibbon and was first described in January 2017 in the American Journal of Primatology. Researchers estimate H. tianxing diverged from H. leuconedys roughly 490,000 years ago.Etymology
The Skywalker hoolock gibbon is named after Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars franchise, as the scientists who described it are fans of the franchise. The specific name tianxing is the Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese terms 天 meaning "heaven" and 行 meaning "movement". The name is a reference to brachiation, the main locomotory mode of gibbons, and derived from the text of the I Ching, an ancient Chinese book of divination.Habitat
The Skywalker hoolock gibbon is found in the tropical forests of eastern Myanmar and the Yunan Province in southwestern China. About 200 individuals are estimated to live in China and an unknown number in Myanmar.
