Woolly Bears and Predicting Winter Weather: Activity Page

As the leaves change color and the air turns crisper, there’s a magical transformation occurring in the natural world. It’s the season of woolly bears! Maybe you’ve seen a fuzzy orange and black caterpillar crawling around? If you have, it could be a woolly bear, the caterpillar of the Isabella tiger moth. It’s also known as a woolly worm, fuzzy wuzzy and hedgehog bear. 

There is folklore and legend that tells of predicting the coming winter weather by the length of the stripes on the woolly bear.  

According to the legend if there are larger black stripes it is going to be a harsh winter. If the stripes are more evenly colored between orange and black then it will be moderate and if they are more orange than black then it will be a mild winter. Even though it’s just folklore and not science, we can enjoy imagining connecting with old traditions. 

Are woolly bears poisonous? If I touch one will I get hurt?

No, they aren’t poisonous to touch, but their small hairs can be irritating to some people with sensitive skin. Wear gloves if you are worried that you might be one of those people. Does it tickle to hold a woolly bear? Yes! It can be hard to hold still. But you can practice when you watch for other animals and birds.

Why do woolly bears curl up in a ball?  Well, They are kind of like hedgehogs and will curl into a ball if they feel threatened. In fact, they stay curled up in a ball all winter to be as protected as possible. Which is why one of their names is hedgehog bear. 

Fun word for today is:  antifreeze. What is antifreeze? It is a substance that can be added to liquids to lower their freezing point or in other words to make them stay liquid at lower and lower temperatures. You probably already know that water usually freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit or zero degrees Celsius? But  If you add antifreeze to water it will stay a liquid even temperatures below the usual freezing point. 

When the weather gets chilly the wooly bear converts its glycogen or (energy) stores into glycerol and sorbitol (types of alcohols) that lower the temperature it freezes at to 14 degrees Farenheit or -6 degrees Celsius! But that’s not it all, the woolly bear has one more amazing process. The caterpillar also pushes water out of its cells into extracellular space so that if it does freeze, its cell membranes won’t burst and it can stay frozen until the spring. 

When the chill of winter subsides, they spin a cocoon and transform into the Isabella Tiger Moth, living for a brief period to continue the life cycle.

The moth doesn’t eat much, and only lives for a few days to a week, before it lays its eggs and the cycle starts again. 

Where can you find woolly bear eggs and cocoons?  You might find some eggs on a red maple, white oak, willows, American chestnut, dandelion, dock, aster, goldenrod, plantain, clovers, birches, maples. They love these plants. 

We’ve made an activity sheet so you can have fun with woolly bears no matter where you live. Click the Download link below.

Wooly Bear Activity Page

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