{"id":359050,"date":"2026-03-26T11:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/359050\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T11:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:35:09","slug":"theres-a-tropical-island-in-the-middle-of-the-panama-canal-thats-home-to-a-bright-pink-animal-with-an-astonishing-trick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/359050\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s a tropical island in the middle of the Panama Canal that’s home to a bright pink animal with an astonishing trick"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists have discovered that the bright pink colour of the bush cricket species\u00a0Arota festae\u00a0is likely not an aberration as previously believed, but instead a well-timed trick to blend in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Native to Panama, Colombia and Suriname, the leaf-shaped body and wing cases of\u00a0Arota festae\u00a0change from vivid pink to leaf green to apparently mimic the foliage shift in surrounding rainforest plants.<\/p>\n

Researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute\u2019s field station on Barro Colorado Island in Panama found a female specimen of\u00a0Arota festae\u00a0beneath an artificial light. <\/p>\n

The insect<\/a>, one of the onomatopoeic katydid species, was vivid pink when first encountered, but within 11 days had become green, without having moulted. A process that is mirrored within more than a third of the region\u2019s freshly emerged tropical plants.<\/p>\n

These plants produce high levels of anthocyanins, pigments present in fruits such as blueberries and raspberries, which give a pink colour to new leaves. This helps to protect the young leaves from intense sunlight and also acts as a deterrent to herbivores by appearing less palatable than the chlorophyll<\/a>-rich green to which they would normally be drawn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Barro Colorado Island is located in Gatun Lake, a large waterbody in the middle of the Panama Canal, Central America. Credit: Rainer Lesniewski\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Imitating this process would appear to be hugely beneficial to\u00a0Arota festae\u00a0as it can consistently match the colour and shape of the leaves among which it lives. Although measuring only around 27mm long and weighing less than a gram, blending in is critical to avoid predators. <\/p>\n

Dr Benito Wainwright, from the University of St Andrews and lead author of the study said, \u201cRather than a bizarre genetic quirk, this may actually be a finely tuned survival strategy that tracks the life cycle of the rainforest leaves this insect is trying to resemble.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ArotaThe Arota festae specimen was bright pink when researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research found it. Credit: University of St Andrews, University of Reading, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and University of Amsterdam
\n\"ArotaWithin 11 days, the Arota festae specimen has turned from pink to green. Credit: University of St Andrews, University of Reading, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and University of Amsterdam<\/p>\n

The research team, from the Universities of Reading, St Andrews and Amsterdam, alongside the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, proposed this process of colouration change following a 30-day study of the female\u00a0Arota festae. While captive, the specimen was photographed daily, with the pink colour fading from \u2018hot\u2019 to \u2018pastel\u2019 after 4 days and then changing to the familiar green morph after 11 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Co-author of the study, Dr Matt Greenwell from the University of Reading, explained, \u201cThe idea that an insect might gradually shift colour to keep pace with the leaves it mimics shows how dynamic the rainforest can be, and is a remarkable example of camouflage<\/a> in action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evolutionary biologist Benito Wainwright explains more about Arota festae’s special colour-changing trick. Credit: University of St Andrews, University of Reading, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and University of Amsterdam<\/p>\n

Top image: Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Credit: Mint Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

More amazing wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists have discovered that the bright pink colour of the bush cricket species\u00a0Arota festae\u00a0is likely not an aberration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[85,46,141,386],"class_list":["post-359050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}