Saturday, September 12, 2009 LONDON: The insect was found by 11-year-old Daniel Tate who thought it was a flower until he saw it jump and then he realised it was a grasshopper. The insect was later identified by wildlife officers as an adult female common green grasshopper, which has been born pink. Daniel, who attended the wildlife event at Seaton Marshes, near Sidmouth, Devon, with his great grandfather, 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 and then I knew it was a grasshopper." He added: “I was really excited to hear that no one else had found a pink grasshopper at that place before.” Fraser Rush, nature reserves officer for East Devon District Council, said: “There are millions of common green grasshoppers but I have never seen a pink one. The female comes in a variety of colours, normally different shades of green and brown. Occasionally it tends towards purple, but this is a leap beyond that to pink.” He added: “Pink grasshoppers are unusual but not unheard of. However the intensity of the pink in this case must make it highly unusual.” Mr Rush said the pink grasshopper was “a natural variety of the species, albeit a rare one. It has not been caused by any mutation, or any environmental effects.” He added: “There is a chance it will have bred already and will pass on its pink gene.” After being studied the grasshopper was released back into the reserve.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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