How does one interpret the stripes on a woolly bear caterpillar?
” Common folklore has it the severity of the coming winter can be predicted by the amount of black on the banded woolly bear, the Isabella tiger moth’s caterpillar. However, the relative width of the black band varies with age, and has nothing whatsoever to do with weather…” Source: http://www.cirrusimage.com/woolly_Bear_Caterpillar.htm ” It is the larvae of this species which are the subject of common folklore, which has it that the forthcoming severity of a winter can be predicted by the amount of black on the caterpillar; this is the most familiar woolly bear in North America. As with many such folk tales, there is little or no truth to the legend; larvae produced in the same clutch of eggs can vary from mostly red to mostly black, even when reared under the same conditions, and this variability invalidates any actual temperature-related trends that may otherwise be evident. In fact
