A grasshopper of a different hue

English newspaper The Sun reports on the discovery of an aberrant grasshopper:

A SCHOOLBOY has stumbled on a rare PINK grasshopper.

Eagle-eyed Daniel Tate, 11, was taking part in the first Minibeasts in the Marshes event at Seaton Marshes, Devon, when he came across the little hopper.

Experts say it is a common green grasshopper which just happens to be pink.

Daniel said: "I was looking for grasshoppers when I saw something pink.

"I thought it was a flower but I saw it moving, so I tried to catch it. It jumped so then I knew it was a grasshopper.

"I was really excited to hear that no one else had found a pink grasshopper at that place before."

James Chubb, education ranger for East Devon council, said: "There are billions of meadow grasshoppers across England but this is the first pink one I have ever seen.

"It is caused by a genetic mutation in its reproductive cycle.

"It's almost a full adult, so it has survived this long being bright pink there is a chance it will live to reproduce and pass on its pink gene."

A white otter in Scotland

The CFZ News blog has reported on the discovery of a white otter in Scotland:

An otter charity has said an image of a rare albino otter has been captured by an amateur wildlife photographer.

Karen Jack said the sight of the white animal eating a fish on rocks in Moray was "surreal".

Grace Yoxon, of the Skye-based International Otter Survival Fund (IOSF) said the otter was "extremely rare".

Ms Jack had to wait for the animal to reappear from the sea after catching a quick glimpse of it earlier.

She said: "I have been into photography for about three years as a hobby and love photographing wildlife, landscapes and my two cats.

"But it was just an amazing and surreal view of the albino otter, and for it to sit there and eat while we watched on was mind blowing."

Mrs Yoxon added: "It is extremely rare to see albino animals in the wild and to be able to get such wonderful photos is exceptional.

"Karen was extremely lucky to have her camera with her - I am very envious."

In March, IOSF took into its care an otter which latched on to two teenagers who were sledging, then followed them home.

The cub was spotted in snow under a bush at Windygates, Fife, in February.

He was nicknamed Dylan because one of the youngsters was playing a harmonica - an instrument synonymous with singer Bob Dylan.

How big do otters get?

In the BioFortean Review (November 2006), Chad Arment reports on a huge otter killed near Portage, Maine in 1949.

Portage, Dec. 3. (AP)—The otter Walter Bolstridge trapped may have been the giant of the otter world.

Game Warden Wilfred L. Atkins said the animal's glossy pelt measured 66 inches long. The average otter is about 40 inches.

And Bolstridge said that before being skinned, the huge otter was about 76 inches long from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail.

State Fish and Game Commissioner George J. Stoble said an otter as big as Bolstridge's trophy may be a world's record.

Bolstridge caught the otter recently on the Big Fish River, between Portage and St. Froid Lakes, in Northern Maine.

Mink trapping was disappointing in the area in the month-long season that ended last Wednesday. Rain and snow hampered trappers.

At Hollis, Alfred Hall, 78-year-old coon hunter, also took a good-sized otter this week that his coon dogs had tracked for some distance at night through the brush.

The dogs cornered the animals in a thicket and Hall shot it with a 22-caliber pistol, after one of his two hounds had been badly mauled by the animal.

As river otters have been shown to be extant in Pennsylvania, 6+ foot specimens are certainly relevant to any monster reports...

Gray cougars

The Fort Myers (FL) News Press (August 22, 2009) has reported on the discovery by Mark Lotz of Florida Fish & Wildlife of two gray-colored male Florida panthers. The panthers were healthy otherwise. Eastern cougar researcher John Lutz notes that gray-coated cougars are not unknown.

Once again, not a Pennsylvania story but relevant to the erratically-colored cougars often seen.

Blue, white, and yellow lobsters

I know it's not from Pennsylvania, but I wanted to put it on here as a demonstration of how even a bizarre-looking thing might not necessarily be a new species. Fosters.com reports that Bill Marconi of Portsmouth, New Hampshire caught this weird-looking blue lobster. Freak lobster colorations result from the individual animal's processing the chemical astaxanthin differently. Total absence of astaxanthin can create white lobsters, many of which have been raised at the New England Aquarium.

The Boston Globe also reported in June that a bright yellow specimen had been caught off the coast of Canada.