Wolly Bear Worm.... caterpillar

Wolly Bear worm in the morning dew. ©Teresa Shumaker

Do you remember the folklore that a woolly bear predicts the oncoming winter?
This was my second thought when I saw this little guy, so I decided to look it up. It seems there are some scientific theories where the longer the brown middle section is the milder the previous winter was, because worms who were born during an early spring, due to a mild winter, have more brown than those born during a late spring.

However, the Weather Channel quoted a man from the Woolly Worm Festival in North Carolina who said the winner of the woolly worm race (yes, they race these fuzzy worms) has an 84.5 percent accuracy rating. Not to shabby.

Whichever it is, these little caterpillars are tons of fun to look at.

Back to my first thought. When I first saw him, covered in droplets, I wondered what it must be like to walk around weighed down with all that water on his coat. And does it make him cold?
Brrr! No wonder he needs that thick coat. Can he shake it off, if he wanted to?


Interesting fact: no one seems to agree on the name of this little bug. Some names I found were Woolly Worm — spelled with one L, and with two — Wooly Bear Caterpillar and combos mixing up all of the above.

Although, scientifically speaking (and still a rough generalization) caterpillars have feet and worms do not.