Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister’s Unique and Prehistoric Honor Given to Him on This Day

From Grammy Awards to multi-platinum records to a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, there are plenty of ways for a musician to know they’ve made it in the industry—but Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister’s unique honor given to him on this day beats them all.

While the impressive accolade was a posthumous tribute, National History Museum curator Lorna Steel said, “We’d like to think that he would have raised a glass” to the touching—and gnarly—memorial.

Motörhead Lemmy Kilmister’s Unique Honor

When London’s Natural History Museum curator (and massive Motörhead fan) Lorna Steel discovered that scientists had miscategorized a prehistoric crocodile species, she did what any museum curator slash rock and roll lover would do: selected one of her favorite iconic musicians as the new species’ namesake.

In this case, Steel decided to name the massive croc after Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister, who had died at the age of 70 two years earlier. Steel told NPR her co-workers “were happy to indulge my wish to anime a fossil after one of my musical heroes,” but even without Steel’s love for the band, we’d say it’s an appropriate tribute.

Researchers initially classified Lemmysuchus obtusidens as a Steneosaurus obtusidens, two similar—but not identical—species found in the same clay pit quarry in Cambridgeshire. “With an [over three-feet]-long skull and a total length of [20 feet], it would have been one of the biggest coastal predators of its time,” University of Edinburgh paleontologist Michela Johnson said (via the National History Museum’s website).

Unlike its biological cousins, who ate primarily fish, this prehistoric crocodile’s incredibly strong jaw and blunt teeth allowed it to crunch through turtle shells in addition to other marine life. “Although Lemmy passed away at the end of 2015, we’d like to think that he would have raised a glass to Lemmysuchus, one of the nastiest sea creatures to have ever inhabited the Earth,” Steel said of Kilmister’s unique honor.

Lemmy Is In Good Company

Scientists naming ancient discoveries after musicians they like is hardly an uncommon practice in the paleontology community. While few musical namesakes have as vicious of a descriptor as “one of the biggest coastal predators of its time,” Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister is in good company when it comes to prehistoric tributes.

During a 2001 excavating trip in Madagascar, paleontologists listened to Dire Straits as they dug up the bones of a relatively small dinosaur about the size of a dog. When the time came to name their discovery, the scientists settled on Masiakasaurus knopfleri after the “Money for Nothing” artist that provided the soundtrack to their dig.

Other notable dinosaur namesakes include Barbaturex morrisoni, a 50,000,000-year-old iguana named after Jim Morrison, the self-proclaimed “lizard king.” The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger also got his own dinosaur after scientists discovered a 19,000,000-year-old mammal whose fossils suggested it had large lips and decided to name it after the big-lipped rock and roller. These tributes might not pay as much as a platinum record, but what’s more hardcore than having a historic and prehistoric legacy?

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