Wooly Worm Winter
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This makes for the 2nd one that I have seen this fall. The first one was complete white or a lighter color. This one…if its true, means that we will have some snow coming. :) In fact, they are calling for some flurries in the next day or two. Usually us Hoosiers won’t see snow for almost another month or around Thanksgiving.
Wooly worm forecasters say that the size of the brown band of color
will tell you what kind of winter is coming. Legend says that the
thinner the brownish red bands, the harsher the winter will be. If the
wooly worm is mostly brownish red in the middle, winter will be mild.
I little about the wool worm…
The wooly bear worm is most famous for its legendary
ability to predict winter weather. Also known as wooly worm, woolly
worm, black-ended bear, fuzzy bear, or banded wooly bear, the wooly
bear worm is actually the caterpillar (larval stage) of the Isabella
Tiger Moth. Found throughout the United States, the wooly bear worm
caterpillar is more commonly seen in the fall, looking for the ideal
place (usually under rocks and inside logs) to hibernate. Once spring
comes, the larva awakes to feed once more before entering its cocoon
stage. A few weeks later, the Isabella Tiger Moth (a nocturnal
yellowish moth with a two-inch wingspan), finally emerges.
While the striped black and brown wooly bear worm
caterpillar is the best known, there are actually eight different
species of wooly worms in a variety of colors, from light brown to
white & black. The colors vary according to the worm?s diet and its
age. As wooly worms molt (shed their skin), their color goes from
mostly orange to the typical stripped look that is common in late fall.
Wooly worms can survive extreme cold temperatures
{sidebar id=1}because of the bristly hair that covers their entire body and their
unique ability to produce an antifreeze-like coating made up of
glycerol and other chemicals. Scientists estimate that wooly worms can
probably survive temperatures of up to -90oF. In fact, live worms have
been found frozen in a cube of ice. Once the ice melted, the worms
immediately picked up on their normal activity.
During spring, the female wooly worm lays eggs on a
wide variety of plants, including grass, dandelions, clover, and garden
vegetables such as spinach and cabbage. When the eggs hatch, the
caterpillars feed on the plants.
The wooly worm is also known as the hedgehog
caterpillar because of its ability to curl into a ball and ?play dead?
when picked up. The dual color also makes the worms harder to spot from
the air, protecting it from birds and other predators.
The wooly bear is so venerated that there is an annual Woolly Worm Festival devoted to the wooly worm and its weather prediction prowess.
Information source: http://www.allaboutworms.com/the-wooly-bear-wooly-worm-woolly-worm
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