One of my added awards when picking the last of our Autumn
Bliss raspberries a few days ago was discovering a woolly bear
caterpillar resting in the sunshine on a raspberry leaf. With
the digital camera close at hand, its beautiful sun-lit image was
soon stored in our computer along with hundreds of other
nature-related subjects to be used with future stories and for
teaching and enjoyment.
Hardly a sunny day goes by now without seeing individual
woolly bears "humping" their way across a road as
though they know exactly where they are going. For years it was
believed that these furry black and rusty-brown creatures could
foretell the severity of the winter to come. A narrow center
band supposedly meant a cold winter while a wider band predicted
a mild winter.
A number of years ago the American Museum of Natural History
in New York City received many letters and phone calls in
response to their study of this popular belief. People were
asking if they should buy a new furnace, snow tires, or better
yet, go south for the winter.
Much to the inquirers’ disappointment the museum scientists,
following several years of serious study, were finally able to
announce that the lowly woolly bear was absolutely incapable of
predicting future weather patterns. Rather, it is thought that
the varying widths of the colored bands are related to the age of
the caterpillar. By the way, there may be some relationship
between the caterpillar’s furry coat and the fact that it winters
in this condition rather than in the more usual egg or cocoon stage.
Come spring, the caterpillar will enter its pupal, or cocoon,
stage and eventually emerge as the Isabella moth, a light tan,
lightly speckled, two to two and a half-inch creature.
Incidentally another name for this well-recognized caterpillar in
other parts of the county is the black-ended bear.
The two large patches of tall zinnias bordering our front
sidewalk have attracted a host of caterpillars, butterflies and
other insects each summer. An unusually beautiful caterpillar we
discovered last year feasting upon the petals of a deep pink
zinnia blossom was the yellow bear, the larva of theVirginia
tiger moth, a small white-winged creature. What especially
impressed us about this light yellow, furry creature was the
delicate clustered arrangement of its outward flaring silky
spines, somewhat like those on the woolly bear but not as closely
spaced.
Very few animals lend themselves better to intimate,
easily-obtainable study than caterpillars. They are slow-moving,
abundant, and easy to find. The name comes from the French
"chalepelose" meaning hairy cat. Perhaps they are so
intriguing because each is a part of an imminent metamorphic
mystery.
A wonderful feature related to their study is that, with very
few exceptions, they are safe and quite harmless to handle. In
all the years of working with elementary children collecting
thousands of caterpillars at the start of the school year in
September and October, there was only one case of soreness on the
part of the collector.
A little boy on his way to school got so carried away by his
exciting discovery of a "whole bush full of
caterpillars!" that he came walking into my room with his
cupped hands absolutely brimming with dozens of a species of
hairy caterpillar that I never did identify. Apparently some of
the seemingly harmless fiber-glass-like spines brushed off onto
his fingers. Later, when rubbing his eyes, a few of these hairs
gave him some very watery and red eyes that required medical
treatment – fortunately nothing serious.
The study of caterpillars can lead to some excellent botany
lessons because most of these creatures tend to be very fussy
about their leaf-food. Those of the monarch butterflies eat
leaves of many milkweed species, fritillary butterflies like
violets (and eat them only at night), black swallowtails feast on
carrot leaves, parsley and Queen Anne’s lace, while tent
caterpillars are fairly partial to wild cherry. Woolly bears and
yellow bears are not at all fussy about the leaves they consume.
Fortunately the caterpillars don’t have to search far and wide
for their favorite vegetation. The female moth or butterfly will
have already made the proper choice of laying its eggs on the
correct food or host plant of the caterpillars to be hatched.
Feel relieved knowing that all of the caterpillars, especially
those you don’t want in your vegetable garden or field or farm
crops, will not survive through the day. Many hornets and wasps
feed their young on caterpillar "meat." Other
predators of caterpillars include birds, toads, frogs, beetles,
spiders, skunks, snakes and shrews.
Revel in the beauty of small and delicate creatures in nature,
but remember what John Gay said in 1727: "And what’s a
butterfly? At best he’s but a caterpillar dressed."
Woolly bears are seen during the fall as they search
for places to spend the winter.
This yellow bear caterpillar
feasted on zinnia petals, one of many different plants it consumes.
This column appeared in the Door County Advocate
on 10/11/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.
