Prior to settling in for the winter, the woolly worm will survive by eating a variety of plants such as cabbage, spinach, grass, and clover. The woolly worm will remain in its “frozen” state until May, when it will emerge as a brilliantly colored moth. It crawls under logs, boulders, boards, rocks, and other dark places. The wooly worm is also protected by shelter. The antifreeze protects the creature in freezing temperatures that can dip as low as –90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Everything else will freeze, but the woolly worm will still survive. Once the woolly worm has found its home for the winter, it will create a natural organic antifreeze that protects the interior of its cells. They have tiny eyes, but they make their way around mostly by feeling around and touching.

Woolly worms may look small, but these dazzling creatures have 13 segments and three sets of legs. While you will notice them in great numbers during the fall months, the woolly worm actually has two life cycles, so they can also be found inching around in June and July.

The furry woolly worm can be spotted during the fall months in great numbers inching along the ground. If the woolly worm has more black than brown, the winter will be harsh. In the American Northeast, it is believed that if the woolly worm has more brown on its body than black, it will be a fair winter.

In some parts of the world, it is believed that the severity of the winter can be predicted by the intensity of the black on the Isabella tiger moth’s larvae (caterpillar). Some woolly worms, however, are completely black or completely brown. Equally as bright and beautiful, the woolly worm may have a burnt orange color in the middle and it may be black on both ends. The tiger moth is a beautiful creature with bright colors such as scarlet, yellow, orange, and white and rich hues ranging from black to beige. The tiger moth belongs to the arctiidae family, which has 11,000 species of moths around the world. The woolly worm (also spelled “wooly worm”) is actually a caterpillar or the larvae of the Isabella tiger moth.

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