GUN N' ROSES GUITARIST GETS A SNAKE NAMED AFTER HIM

Field Museum scientists have formally described a new snake from Papua New Guinea and named it Lielaphis slashi, Slash's groundsnake, after the Guns N' Roses guitarist. It's reddish-brown, roughly 28 inches, completely nonvenomous, and it works the night shift at the base of big trees, using big rear teeth to deal with small lizards and reptile eggs. Top hat not included. The name isn't a marketing stunt. Sara Ruane, the museum's associate curator of herpetology and the paper's senior author, has been a Guns N' Roses fan since first grade and told her fifth-grade teacher she was going to be a herpetologist. At 12 she got a Reptiles Magazine with Slash on the cover holding his pet reticulated python, kept it, and reread the interview years later as an actual snake scientist. She also asked his blessing first, which is the etiquette when your honoree is still alive and touring. Slash called himself 'a long-time herpephile' and said he never imagined this moment would arrive. On a side note this is the first time I've ever typed the word Herprphile. The animal waited two decades for the paperwork. Chris Austin of LSU first found it in July 2006 in Sandaun Province, hunting at night, where several highly venomous species look almost exactly like the harmless ones. Genetics finally confirmed it as the 20th species in its genus.

Why you should give a shit: Slash spent his whole life telling people he loves snakes and finally got one, and Ruane says coffee farming and mining are already closing in on the forest it lives in, so this description might end up being the only proof it was ever here.