My son Jasper loves books. While his go to favorites vary over time, there have been a few that he always comes back to. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is one of our regulars. But he doesn’t just like to have the story read to him, he likes finding and pointing to the illustration of the caterpillar on each page. In fact, he likes pointing out the insects in pretty much any book where they appear. Besides caterpillars,…
The distinctive wooly bear caterpillar (Pyrrharctia isabella) has reddish-brown hair in its mid-region and black hair at both its anterior and posterior ends, giving it a banded appearance. If disturbed or threatened, the caterpillar will defend itself either by “playing possum” (rolling up into a ball and remaining motionless) or by quickly crawling away. The one in the photograph below was actually running away so fast it was difficult to capture a clear picture. Unlike some moth and butterfly species,…