A little bit of luck jumped out at a young “bug expert.”
A 9-year-old Arkansas girl and an aspiring vet discovered – and captured – a unique pink grasshopper that’s so rare there’s only a 1% chance of spotting the insect.
Madeline Landecker made the super-rare find while walking to her family barn at her Benton home last Thursday and immediately knew the odd-colored bug was special from a book she read when she was younger, according to KARK.
“When I was littler I saw one in a book,” Madeline told the local station. “I thought it would be cool to have.”
Though the pink grasshopper, which was missing a leg, tried to get away, she scooped it up in “a few seconds” and named it Millie, according to the station.
Known by her classmates as the “bug expert” for the way she studies and takes notes of different creepy crawlers, Madeline brought the grasshopper to school on Friday to show it off.
“Everybody thought it was awesome. The teachers were taking pictures,” she told KARK.
Madeline, who wants to be a veterinarian when she gets older, already has nine chickens, two dogs, two cats and a rabbit.
She sells eggs from the chickens in a little stand she runs at the end of her family’s driveway.
She suspects her collection of animals is why the grasshopper is missing a leg.
“I think one of the chickens had got it,” said Madeline who turned 10 on St. Patrick’s Day.
