Boy finds rare PINK grasshopper...

[BTM]

Whoa, this is interesting...  You gotta click on the original article, has all kinds of neat pictures of other pink insects.

I bet you if they could talk, they'd tell you how "FABULOUS!" they are.  :)



http://green.yahoo.com/blog/greenpicks/253/boy-finds-rare-pink-grasshopper.html

Boy finds rare pink grasshopper
By Lori Bongiorno
Posted Mon Sep 14, 2009 5:10pm PDT
Related topics: Animals, Science, Gardening, Nature

Daniel Tate, an English schoolboy, was looking for grasshoppers at a wildlife event he attended with his great-grandfather last week. But the 11-year old boy and his companions at Seaton Marshes Local Nature Reserve had no idea what a huge surprise they were in for.   

Tate saw something pink that he thought was a flower. But when it jumped he knew it was a grasshopper.

It turns out that it was an adult female common green grasshopper that just happened to be born pink.

Experts aren't sure what caused this mutation.  Grasshoppers of different colors, including pink, are unusual but not unheard of according to experts. What makes this particular grasshopper so rare is the intensity of the pink, according to Fraser Rush, a nature reserves officer in Britain.

[BoyScoutKevin]

And then he accidentally stepped on it.

[meQal]

That's just freaking cool looking.

[Rev. Powell]

This appears to be nature's new strategy to get little girls interested in bugs. 

[ghouck]

I bet it tastes better than the green ones. ..

[BTM]

I bet it tastes better than the green ones. ..

You know, come to think of it, the article doesn't really mention this, but I wonder if part of the reason that there's not a lot of pink grasshoppers is because they're not as well camouflaged as green grasshoppers, and thus, they get less food, and don't bred as much.  I mean, I don't know if insects see color they way we do, but even amongst creatures with black and white vision, they can still tell shades apart.

For instance, there's speculation that butterflies from hundreds of years ago were a lot more colorful and bright than they are today, but those quickly gotten eaten up, while the darker, more muted tone ones survived.

I find the subject interesting to think about...

[ghouck]

In Ohio there are several colors of tree frogs, some silver and some orange. I was told that they are uncommon because birds see them much easier than they do the green ones, thus they get eaten more. It makes sense I guess. Growing up, there were all these trees that people painted the bottom couple of feet white. I was told that was because of some beetle that climbed up and was damaging to them, when it was on the white part birds could see them much better and would eat them. I don't know if that's true of not.

[BoyScoutKevin]

I bet it tastes better than the green ones. ..

You know, come to think of it, the article doesn't really mention this, but I wonder if part of the reason that there's not a lot of pink grasshoppers is because they're not as well camouflaged as green grasshoppers, and thus, they get less food, and don't bred as much.  I mean, I don't know if insects see color they way we do, but even amongst creatures with black and white vision, they can still tell shades apart.

For instance, there's speculation that butterflies from hundreds of years ago were a lot more colorful and bright than they are today, but those quickly gotten eaten up, while the darker, more muted tone ones survived.

I find the subject interesting to think about...

Which is why you seldom see albino animals in the wild. Their coloration makes them easier prey for predators.

I remember when I was studying science in school, we learned about this light colored moth in England. As the air pollution in the area in which it lived increased, it began to turn darker to match the darker background.  But, then as they cleaned up the air pollution in the area, the moth began going back to its original lighter color.

[Ash]

I bet it tastes better than the green ones. ..

The pink ones are strawberry flavored!   

[BoyScoutKevin]

I bet it tastes better than the green ones. ..

The pink ones are strawberry flavored!   

But, aren't the green ones lime flavored?

[Ash]

But, aren't the green ones lime flavored?

Those are sour apple flavored.