(CNN) One of Dr. Seuss' most beloved characters may actually have a real-life counterpart, and no, it's not as horrifying as it sounds.

Admit it: While his fictional, fantastical creatures have shaped many a childhood imagination, we as a human species are probably better off that there are no ACTUAL Whos or Grinches or Kwuggerbugs roaming about.

But the Lorax, Seuss' orange environmental ambassador, lines up suspiciously well with a type of monkey found in Africa.

This discovery was explored by a group of anthropologists and scholars, and their findings were recently published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

An animated version of the Lorax from a 2012 movie. In the background, you can see a rendering of the Truffula trees.

"The Lorax," an environmental fable about the titular creature and his fight to save the exploited Truffula trees, was published in 1972. Two years before that, Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, took a trip to Kenya.

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