There's lots of folklore about the wooly bear caterpillar (Phyrrhartica isabella) and its predictive talents. This one has a slightly longer black section at the head so the beginning of winter will be worse than the end. It has about the same amount of black as orange which might mean a normal winter. It was crawling North which means a mild winter. We shall see.
@narayani@anniesue It is. The myth goes back to colonial America. They're fascinating creatures. They go through winter by letting themselves freeze. In spring they unfreeze, eat a lot of stuff and then pupate and turn into tiger moths. The coloration on the caterpillar is really an indication of how old it is and how much it has been eating. The bigger the caterpillar, the more black fur it has.
