It has been heavily documented by the Hubble Space Telescope, and is cataloged in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.

[2][3] UGC 4881 was first given the nickname "The Grasshopper" by astrophysicist Dr. Boris Vorontsov-Velyaminov in a 1977 paper[2][unreliable source?]

Intense star formation is occurring, as seen by the bright blue line of clusters along the grasshopper's "tail".

[4] UGC 4881 is believed to be in the process of merging, but the discs of the parent galaxies are overlapping while the cores are separated.

A supernova exploded inside of UGC 4881 in 1999 and the galaxy is in the beginning of star formation.