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Woolly Bear Caterpillar
Catherine Boston
The woolly bear caterpillar is the larvae of the Isabella Tiger moth. I found this one in the grass near the Education Building. Woolly bears (also sometimes called hedgehog caterpillars due to their tendency to curl up in a ball when threatened) will spend the winter as caterpillars and can survive even in arctic winters. I can never remember what folklore says about predicting winter by woolly bear bands. It turns out that different species of woolly bears will have different markings and as the caterpillars go through molts they become more brown/orange and less black. A browner woolly bear is an older woolly bear.