A weekend walk led to an uncommon, colorful find for one man in East Texas.
Dirk Parker told NBC 5 he was on a walk in the woods on the Saturday after St. Patrick's Day when he noticed a pink grasshopper.
"The pink just popped out," said Parker, who is from Ohio and currently in Texas working as an environmental inspector. "I thought, 'Oh that's cool,' and I took a picture of it and went back to my hotel."
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Parker says a look through his photographs from his Texas trip prompted him to do some more research into the grasshopper. Knowing how rare the find was, Parker retraced his steps and tracked the insect down and created a habitat to protect it from predators. He even gave the little guy a name: Pinkie.
"A lot of people asked, 'Why Pinkie?'" laughed Parker. "What was I going to call him? Butch? He's pink and he's a grasshopper -- easy as done."
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As an avid fisher and hunter, Parker hopes that people that see Pinkie "just enjoy the outdoors."
"I'm going to let him live his life," Parker said. "I want to share God's wildlife and nature because there's stuff like this that people will never see in their life, and you may not ever get to see one again."
WHAT'S BEHIND THE PINK COLOR?
According to Hojun Song, an Associate Professor with Texas A&M's Department of Entomology, the jumping bug's color can range from green and dull brown to pink, red, purple or even yellow.
Though it's unclear as to what specific gene causes the coloring, scientists believe it's due to erythrism which causes discoloration, Song said.
"We think the mechanism is very similar to albinism or melanism," Song explained. "It could be that certain pigment that generates a reddish color is overproduced or that some other colors that should really be produced have a mutation and that color is not produced."
Similar to albinoism, erythrism is caused by a recessive gene that creates a special color in the small insect. In humans, we may see this gene through red hair or freckles.
HOW RARE ARE PINK GRASSHOPPERS?
While there are thousands of species of grasshoppers around the world, with some in varying colors, finding a pink one in East Texas is a rare event, Song says.
Plus, the vibrant coloring makes them more vulnerable to predators because they're easier to find in the grass.
