We, too, will be hosting a woolly bear this winter. Since dh found one for dd yesterday evening, we had to do a brief nature study for homeschool this morning and found these fun facts:
-Wolly bear caterpillars spin cocoons in the spring and pupate into Isabella Tiger moths.
-There are two generations of woolly bears per year, so all the ones we see in the Fall are from the second hatching this year.
-The color bands on the caterpillar are directly related to the age of the individual, not necessarily to the coming weather. I think the more brown they have, the older that one is. So...if warmer weather hangs around for a while, then the caterpillars will be older and have more brown, which may also be related to a milder winter. If the weather starts closing in early, then most of the caterpillars would not remain active long enough for us to see them get much brown, so they would be mostly black. And if it is getting good and cold early, then that might bode for a long, severe winter. I can kind of see the connection.
But who knows, maybe the caterpillars know something that goes well beyond our scientific explanation. I kind of believe the science explanation though, since on the same day I have seen mostly brown and mostly black caterpillars in the same yard.
Lori
