Spare a thought for the humble woolly bear caterpillar.
This week, these small black and orange caterpillars start the journey of their lives, roaming our local roads and fields in search of overwintering habitat. If they find a suitable spot, next spring they turn into Isabella tiger moths, Pyrrharctia isabella, lovely insects that pollinate our trees and gardens.
But first, the 2-inch-long caterpillars have to cross the road and overcome an array of predators that seems to include everything that walks, rolls, slithers or flies.
Woolly bears, also known as fuzzy bears, are about 2 inches long, with bristly fur, two black bands and a rusty-orange band around their midsection. They feed at night.
They are creative in choosing places to spend the winter. I have found them in empty coffee cans and under piles of wood. Once, I found one in my mailbox underneath mailers for political candidates.
According to the National Weather Service, woolly bears freeze in December, stopping their hearts and turning solid until the warmer spring weather thaws them out. They produce glycerol, a natural antifreeze, in their body tissues to prevent cell damage.
Enduring legends swirl around these woolly bears. It’s claimed that they are accurate weather predictors. A wider orange band on the caterpillar signifies a mild winter, while thicker black bands indicate a cold, snowy winter. Experts have surfaced who claim to know how to “read the worm.” None of this is true. The legend can be traced back to New York City and a scientist and prankster named C.H. Curran, who was the curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History. In 1948, Curran took a trip to Bear Mountain and collected some woolly bears and then, just for fun, published an article claiming that the length of the caterpillars’ bands predicts the severity of winter weather. The article became a hot topic. The legend survives.
In Pine Plains this week, a neighbor has been haying his fields, and hundreds of woolly bears have emerged onto the roads searching for a place to overwinter.
For woolly bears, crossing the highway is a fate similar to the great Rout of the Titans in Greek mythology. The roadway is strewn with dead caterpillars, there is no place for the troops to hide, and the going is painfully slow.
As if the chance of becoming roadkill weren’t enough, woolly bears have numerous predators, including chickadees, blue jays, wasps, snakes, chipmunks and raccoons.
Their defense when attacked is to curl up in a ball, not the most effective survival strategy. According to A-Z Animals, an animal-tracking website, their top speed when fleeing is 0 mph.
The life cycle of the woolly bear begins when eggs laid by the adult Isabella tiger moth hatch in early summer. The newborn caterpillar spends the summer feeding on plants and grasses and then beds down for the winter. In early spring, the woolly bear larvae form cocoons with their hair, out of which the beautiful Isabella tiger moths emerge.
They are welcome guests in the garden, where they like to eat clover, nettles and other invasive plants. Gardeners advise that if you want to make your yard hospitable to them, leave some leaf litter for a wintering spot and avoid pesticides.
At Cold Spring Early Learning Center in Stanfordville, the pupils eagerly await the woolly bear migration. “Our students get very excited when they see the first woolly bears in their playground,” said Hannah Linnane, a pre-K teacher. “Being fearless three and four year olds, they enjoy handling the caterpillars and sharing them with their friends. It’s not often that they share an insect that’s fuzzy. Plus, the caterpillar doesn’t escape.” That’s a good thing when you don’t cover very much territory yourself.
With their adorable looks and their legendary status, it’s no surprise that there’s plenty of woolly bear merch available online. You can buy a woolly bear T-shirt, brooch, pillow, tote, tufted rug and glass ornament. Woolly bear fan clubs are popular in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, and there are festivals in Vermilion, Ohio, and Banner Elk, North Carolina, with parades featuring humans and pets dressed in woolly bear costumes.
So why not in Pine Plains? This writer’s suggestion: Find a parking lot somewhere in town and stage a woolly bear road race. Entrants would be allowed to cheer on (but not touch) their woolly bears. No caterpillars would be harmed in the course of the race. Every caterpillar gets a prize. It could be an annual thing.