Weiss: Those hairs you might think of as a little down jacket for the caterpillar to wear, and I’m sure that they do provide a little bit of insulation.įurby: That’s Dr. The woolly bear caterpillar, like its name, is covered in a spiky looking fuzz. And unless they burrow or cocoon, they’re subject to the wind and rain. I’m Kate Furby, and you’re listening to Science, Quickly.įurby: Unlike humans and other mammals, caterpillars can’t regulate their body temperatures. And while this is based in colonial folklore, not science, what is scientifically amazing is how the woolly bear caterpillar is able to survive winter. These little creatures have an orange waistband stripe, whose width is rumored to predict how long winter might be. I’m talking about the woolly bear caterpillar, or Isabella tiger moth. They’re furry, rotund, and famous for their rumored weather forecasting skills. Martha Weiss: So there are caterpillars that have been reported to be put into an ice cube and frozen, and then when the ice cube melts, they can get up and walk away.įurby: You may have seen them scooting around on leaf litter in the fall. Whether or not you believe is up to you.Kate Furby: Some caterpillars have evolved with antifreeze in their body cavities, allowing them to become cater-Popsicles to survive cold winters. If the feed up until fall has been good, the narrower the rust color in the middle of the caterpillar will be. The size and color have been known to indicate what has happened in the past season. The wooly bear caterpillar's color comes from the age of the caterpillar, the specific species, and what it has been feeding on to prepare for the long winter. It has been proven that these caterpillars do not have forecasting ability. The story was picked up by the national press, and its popularity grew from there.Īlthough, in some years there may have been correlations. He studied 15 caterpillar's striping and predicted what the upcoming winter would be. He brought a reporter with him to broadcast his findings. Howard Curran did a small study in Bear Mountain, New York. According to the National Weather Service, Dr. The rumor that the wooly bear caterpillar can predict winter started back in 1948. Similarly, the wider the middle brown band is, the milder the upcoming winter will be.
The longer the black bands are on the caterpillar, the longer, colder, snowier, and more severe the winter will be. People believe that the amount of black on the wooly bear caterpillar in autumn is the telling of the severity of the coming winter.
If you are unfamiliar, the story goes like this.
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