This Is What Happens When Pokémon Fans Become Scientists

Fire-breathing bees would actually be the worst, though.

Important alert for aspiring Pokémon masters: Charizards are real. They just happen to live in Chile and are a bit smaller than expected.

The Pokémon Company International

Like, a lot smaller. And also actually a species of bee.

Spencer K. Monckton

Canadian scientist Spencer K. Monckton, 26, spent his master's degree classifying bee species in Chile. And in his line of work, finding evidence of a distinct species means you get dibs on naming it.

Spencer K. Monckton

He dubbed this one in particular "Chilicola charizard," inspired by his own love of Pokémon.

"I played the game pretty much from when it was released and I picked Charmander when I first started the game," Monckton told BuzzFeed Canada.

Charmander, of course, evolves into Charmeleon, which evolves into Charizard.

And while Monckton partly named the bee after Charizard because he could, he pointed out that the species has a long snout and an orange hue where similar species have yellow.

You can kinda see it.

Spencer K. Monckton

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As a taxonomist (someone who groups and classifies different organisms), Monckton's friends used to joke that he's basically a Pokémon trainer filling up his Pokédex. "You’re basically trying to catch 'em all," he said.

Spencer K. Monckton

Though at least Monckton's work seems a bit less dangerous.

The Pokemon Company International / Via mashable.com